326 Aveyime-Battor Residents Benefit From Free Health Screening Exercise

Some Three Hundred Twenty-Six (326) residents of Aveyime-Battor and its environs in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region have benefited from a two-day massive health screening exercise themed, ‘My Health, My Priority’.

The seventh in the series, the one-stop shop free health screening programme, was organized by the Amazing Smile Foundation (ASF), a health-related Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based at Aveyime-Battor, with support from Togbe Banahene Adovor Dzodzegbe Agbenyo VII of the Teh Clan of Battor and Mamaga Asieku IV, Paramount Queenmother of the Battor Traditional Area.

This year’s event was unique and improved in that apart from extending to two (2) days as against one (1) day in the previous exercises, the free health screening programme covered more aspects of the beneficiaries’ health. These included malaria, blood sugar and blood pressure tests, eye screening, ear examination, nutrition or dieting sessions, and mental health education.

Another major component of the exercise was the registration of new citizens onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as well as the replacement and renewal of lost or expired NHIS cards. In all, Two Hundred and Eighty-One (281) people had their cards either renewed or replaced for them while some forty-five (45) new registrants were captured onto the NHIS database.

According to the Chairman of the Battor Catholic Hospital Health Screening Team, Mr. Michael Naami, a twenty-five (25) member medical team comprising two (2) doctors, mental health and general nurses, eye, ear, and throat nurses as well as nutritionists from the Battor Catholic Hospital, was deployed to take care of the beneficiaries. They were ably supported by three (3) other medical doctors from Ghana and the United States of America (USA) and a nine-member team of personnel from the Central Tongu District Directorate of the NHIS which has oversight jurisdiction over the North Tongu District. The team of Ghanaian and US physicians was led by Togbe Banahene Adovor Dzodzegbe Agbenyo VII who is also a Ghanaian medical doctor based in the USA.

The event was aimed among other things at not only bringing healthcare to the doorsteps of the people of Aveyime-Battor but also educating them on their health needs to be fit and strong all the time. It brought to the fore the critical cases of some eight (8) aged clients whose Blood Pressure (BP) levels were extremely high, compelling the doctors not only to detain them for a few hours but also to give them urgent medication before discharging them to return home.

A Specialist Family Physician at the Catholic Hospital, Battor, Dr. Aisha Ansah described the BP situation of these eight (8) elderly beneficiaries as alarming, saying that for the health screening exercise, these residents would have been negatively impacted by their health situation.

She used the opportunity to advise the residents of the area and indeed all Ghanaians to regularly avail themselves at the hospital to check their vital statistics including their BP and sugar level checks. This, Dr. Aisha explained would help avert any eminent health situation that could be devastating for them.

Dr. Vincent Cobblah of the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA, Dr. Sheila Apiiyah of the Ga East Municipal Hospital in the Greater Accra Region, and Dr. Yvonne Mawudor of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra also spoke with our news team, commending the organizers for such an exercise.

According to them, coming down from far away to support such initiatives was always revealing and refreshing, and hoped that future events would be bigger and better in order to bring in more residents of Aveyime-Battor and its environs.

The Medical Doctors lauded the beneficiaries for the utmost interest shown in the exercise, saying it was a testament to taking their health needs into their own hands. They also urged the residents to regularly visit the nearest health facility not only to examine themselves but also to seek more information and help on their health conditions.

The team leaders in charge of the various sessions of the health screening exercise also used the opportunity to educate the people from their perspectives. They included Ms. Nicole Yayra Kuma, Senior Nutritionist, Ms. Eva Simtim, Nutrition Officer, Ms. Rebecca Adavu of the Eye Department of the Battor Catholic Hospital as well as Mr. Domee Flatsi, Nursing officer and Ms. Vivian Amenyah, Nursing Officer and both from the Mental Health Unit of the Battor Catholic Hospital.

Speaking to our news reporters in an interview after the exercise, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ASF, Ms. Millie Kumasenu was grateful to all the doctors from both Ghana and the US, the medical team from the Battor Catholic Hospital as well as members of her team for a yeoman’s job done.

She described the outcome of this year’s health screening exercise as very successful, hoping that subsequent years’ events would grow bigger and better.

She was very grateful to Togbe Banahene Adovor Dzodzegbe Agbenyo VII and his partners in the US for the continuous support to the ASF over the years including the provision of all medical supplies and drugs abundantly made available for the exercise.

According to her, it is very expensive to undertake such free health screening exercises considering the cost involved, and used the occasion to appeal to all well-meaning individuals and institutions both within and outside the country to assist in one way or the other to touch more lives in the coming years.

As part of the event, the Sikor Youth Association Cultural Troupe provided cultural dance and entertainment to the dignitaries and the audience to the admiration of all and sundry present at the programme. The group performed different dance forms including ‘agbadza’ and ‘ganu’ which are some of the predominant rich cultural performances of the chiefs and people of the North Tongu District.