First Lady calls for assistance in healthcare delivery

The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has called on stakeholders to help government to fulfill the obligation of protecting the health of citizens.
She said health professionals, on the other hand, must be motivated to contribute their quota in achieving health for all.

“We must all, therefore, endeavour to work towards enhancing the work of health professionals in order to improve the safety and quality of healthcare for our people,” she said.

Presenting assorted medical equipment to the Sunyani Municipal Hospital on behalf of her Foundation, the Lordina Foundation, Mrs Mahama asked for support for health personnel to ensure quality care in the hospitals.

The equipment, which included hospital beds, incubators, ultra scan machines, mammogram refrigerators, catheters, syringes, forceps, blood pressure monitors, theatre beds, wheelchairs and blood sample machines were donated to the hospital as parts of the First Lady’s effort to help save lives and support government’s programme of providing quality healthcare.

Mrs Mahama, who used the occasion to inaugurate a new administration block for the hospital, commended the staff for playing a major role in uplifting the health status of people in and around the Sunyani catchment area.

“With its vision to be a world-class healthcare facility of repute and achieve best practice in healthcare and training of high calibre medical personnel, the hospital has contributed to providing quality care to the people of Sunyani,” she said.

Mrs Mahama said during a recent visit to the hospital, her Foundation, in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission, organised a free screening for HIV/AIDS and breast/cervical cancers for the people to ensure that they enjoyed good health.

The First Lady said the Ghana chapter of the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA), which she chairs, had successfully launched the Global “All-In” Campaign as a means of intensifying all efforts to prevent HIV infections and AIDS deaths amongst adolescents.

She expressed happiness that there had been significant decrease in the rates of infant mortality and under-five mortality as indicated by the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and that was achieved through successful interventions in those areas.

There had also been remarkable improvement in antenatal, intra partum and postnatal deaths, but much needed to be done to ensure that not even a single woman died in child birth, Mrs Mahama said.

She, however, commended hardworking health professionals, particularly those working in deprived communities, for their contribution towards improved health delivery.

Mrs Mahama also thanked Medshare USA and other sponsors for supporting her Foundation to donate such essential health equipment to needy facilities all over the country.

Dr Paulina Opoku, the Municipal Health Director, described the equipment as coming in handy to help the hospital, which had become the preferred choice of delivery in the region, as 45 per cent of all deliveries in the region were handled there.

While commending the First Lady for her continuous assistance to health facilities in the whole of Sunyani, Mr Kwasi Oppong Ababio, the Municipal Chief Executive of Sunyani East, appealed to her to assist the hospital to acquire an ambulance to help in referral cases.

Nana Kwaku Saben II, the Akwamuhene , who represented the Omanhene of the area, thanked the Government for the various projects being carried out in and around Sunyani.

Among the First Lady’s entourage were Mr Eric Opoku, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, and some party executives in the region.