By Saaka Mohammed
About 600 people from the Kalikpegu Electoral Area in the Mion District of the Northern Region have benefited from free medical care as part of efforts to improve the health situation in the area.
The exercise organised by the Puzuri Group of Companies and supported by the Ghana Health Service identified many cases such as breast cancer, cataracts, malaria and hypertension and malnutrition among children.
The Oncology Nurse Specialist, Evelyn Osei Amoah who spoke to GBC News at Chirinzing after the exercise said “some of the health problems in the area are as a result of the lack of health facilities and education”.
Miss Amoah explained that because there are no health facilities, children are not immunized and therefore called on authorities to provide them
with health facilities to improve the situation.
According to her, “patients with critical conditions would be referred to nearby hospitals for treatment”.
The Assemblyman for Kalikpegu, Issah Abdulai commended Puzuri Company for the gesture.
He noted that the area has no social amenities which has brought untold hardship to the entire area.
Mr. Abdulai said the electoral area has a population of about 3000 people in 16 communities, and “pregnant women do not get antenatal services, because the nearest health facility in the district capital, Sang is about nine kilometers away from the electoral are area”.
The situation, the Assemblyman said, is worst during the rainy season, where the lack of bridge on a stream cuts the area off from the rest of the region.
The Manager of Puzuri Group of Companies, Shaibu Luqman said the free medical care was part of its social responsibility package to help the poor.
As an agro organisation they are of the view that when the people are strong and healthy they would give off their best.
He mentioned the drilling of some boreholes in the Chirinzing and Kayong Communities to help solve the perennial water shortage in these Communities.
The Chiefs of Chirinzing and kayong Fuseini Jabuni and Ibrahim Neindow commended the company and the Ghana Health Service for the gesture and asked others to emulate them. According to the Chiefs, the authorities have not paid much attention to the development of the area, adding that the situation has affected the growth of the communities.
