The Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Orgaisation (ADDRO) has donated medical equipment to the Garu District Health of the Ghana Health Service in the Upper East Region to help improve healthcare delivery in the region.
The equipment, included three ultrasound scanners, three printers, and two delivery sets, is to help improve diagnosis, to increase precision and efficiency of cases and improve the health statistics of the vulnerable, particularly pregnant women and children.
The support by the organisation is also to help reduce the cost and distances pregnant women cover to access diagnostic services.
It forms part of ADDRO’s Health Outreach Prevention and Education (HOPE) project being implemented in three sub-districts, including Songo, Kugre, and Denugu in the Garu District, in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, and funded by the Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC).
The project aims at reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity in underdeveloped communities through the Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM) approach.
Mr Emmanuel Tia Nabila, the Executive Director of ADDRO, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after presenting the equipment, said the organisation’s quest was to help vulnerable people live dignified lives by educating them on the best methods they could use to prevent diseases.
He said this led it to identify certain gaps in the health service which is hindering it from giving the people the efficient health care services they require, hence the donation of the equipment to help improve health care delivery and lessen the burden on the vulnerable in their attempt to access health care services.
Mr Nabila said each scanner would be given to each of the sub districts where the project was ongoing.
He urged the health directorate to make effective use of the equipment, adding that, “how long the equipment will last and continue to work efficiently for the benefit of the people will depend on how well it is being used.”
Mr Hypolite Yeleduor, the Garu District Health Director of the Ghana Health Service, expressed gratitude for the kind gesture by the organisation and its donors, emphasizing that the equipment would bring great relief to vulnerable pregnant women and children who struggle to get diagnostic services.
“The health service is so delighted for this donation, particularly because it would relieve the economic burden on our pregnant women. Currently we have a private ultrasound scanner that is being used by health staff at the Sonago Health Center, and they charge not less than GH₵20 per scan, so you can imagine how relieved the pregnant women would be when we start using this,” he said.
He gave assurance that the equipment would be used judiciously for the benefit of the people for whom it was donated.
GNA