GRi Newsreel 15-04-99

President Jerry John Rawlings on Wednesday inspected the $35 million regional hospital under construction at Sunyani, as part of a three-day working visit to the Brong Ahafo region.

The 240-bed hospital, scheduled to be completed in September next year, was started in 1997 with the aid of Britain.

The President also inspected the 1.3 million-dollar roadwork, being undertaken under the "Urban Three Project".

Briefing the President on the hospital project, Mr I. A. Braimah, Resident Architect of the Architect Co-Partners, Consultants to the project, said work on the physical structures of the hospital was about 56 per cent complete.

About 70 per cent of the equipment for the ultra modern health facility, he said, were either in stock or have been ordered indicating that it would be fully completed and operational by September next year. Mr Braimah said the hospital will have specialised departments such as Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Laboratories, Accident and Emergency, Physiotherapy, Pharmacies, Relatives' Lodge and a treatment plant to ensure safe disposal of wastes.

The Regional Director of Health, Dr Kofi Asare said the only omission of the laudable project was the non-inclusion of accommodation facilities for the hundreds of medical staff that would be needed to man the hospital.

He said currently, there are only 27 housing units for doctors and other senior health workers in the town meaning that the 3000-strong staff expected to man the hospital when completed would have "no where to lay their heads".

Dr Asare, therefore, appealed to the government to approve the construction of more residential facilities.

Mr John Goli, resident engineer of Asafo Boakye and Partners Consultants to the Urban-Three Project told the President that about 4.4 kilometres of dual carriage roads are being constructed in the town.

Mr Goli said the only thing delaying the project is the relocation of electricity cables of the Volta River Authority (VRA). In spite of numerous requests and reminders the VRA has not done so.

Telecom and water lines have already been re-located and work on the roads would be quickly completed when the electricity cables are relocated by the VRA.

President Rawlings asked the regional Minister, Mr Donald Adabre to liaise with the VRA to ensure that the cables are quickly re-located in order not to cause undue delay of the project.

Accra (Greater Accra) 15 April  

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) said in Accra on Wednesday it is constructing three new primary sub-stations at Dansoman, Ridge and Baatsona to address overloading problems.

It said the Dansoman station is expected to be ready by the end of April while the Ridge and Baatsona stations would be ready by the end of the year.

A statement issued in Accra by the Public Relations Manager, Mr Kwamina Longdon on current unannounced outages explained that some of them are caused by underground cable faults around the Achimota main substation and Accra Central Business areas.

It said these faults were caused by "third parties", including Ghana Telecom, Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation and road contractors.

Their activities "quietly hit our buried cables which, with time, show up as faults and trip our systems."

The statement said ECG has had wire cuts on its 33 kilovolts overhead transmission lines and 11 kilovolts overhead distribution networks because the conductors are old.

The company has also experienced sudden load-growth in the Accra Central area due to improved quality of supply bringing in its wake undue strains on the networks and overloading the power transformers at the Makola main G substation.

Loss of significant power generation by the Volta River Authority (VRA) also results in the deterioration in frequency of supply and this causes the three main stations at Korle-Bu, Odorkor and Teshie Nungua to trip automatically to prevent the national grid from collapsing.

"ECG has no control over these tripping and the restoration of supply is dictated by VRA's generation improvement."

Accra (Greater Accra), 15th April 

The second Emancipation Day celebration was launched in Accra on Wednesday with a call on Africans to fulfil the vision of the martyrs of Africa's liberation from slavery and colonialism.

Dr (Mrs) Mary Grant, a member of the Council of State who made the call, said Africans must not allow the sacrifices of past heroes, who fought for the freedom of blacks, on the continent and in the Diaspora, to be in vain.

"... They sacrificed their lives, so we should live to carry on the struggle to its logical conclusion, when we would have put the misery and oppression behind us, and harness the tremendous wealth of the continent to our benefit and sustenance."

This year's Emancipation Day under the theme "Emancipation: our heritage our strength - building Africa's civilisation for eternity", will be held in Accra, Cape Coast and Assin Manso in the Central Region. The nine-day celebrations begin on July 24.

Dr Grant said slavery and colonialism succeeded in dividing Africans resulting in their being exploited. "It is now time to weave the broken threads together". She pointed out that Ghana's recognition of Emancipation Day is to prepare the ground for the economic, social, political and spiritual development of Africa and to forge solidarity among all people of African descent.

Mr Mike Gizo, Minister of Tourism, said there was the need to observe good sanitary practices since visitors will flock into the country. He charged personnel manning the country's entry points to facilitate border crossing without compromising laid down regulations.

Travel and tour operators must also provide prompt services for visitors as well as organise tour packages to neighbouring countries.

Accra (Greater Accra) 15 April  

Junior doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have given government up to Tuesday, April 20 to pay their overtime allowance for March or they will down their tools again.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Dr George B. Kyei, Spokesman for the doctors also gave government up to May ending to pay their allowances through the banks instead of at the facility level. The conference, which was held after a long meeting, was attended by the Medical Director of the Hospital and some senior doctors and consultants.

It was to address pertinent issues following the failure of the Ministry of Health to pay doctors their additional duty allowance for March. Junior Doctors, in the nation's hospitals, embarked on a strike action last December, to back their demands for better remuneration and condition of service.

Following their action, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the government, the Ghana Medical Association in which government agreed to pay additional duty allowances to all doctors and dentists in public health institutions.

The Ministry was also to put in place the necessary facilities and mechanisms to ensure that doctors in institutions like the polyclinics cover their hospitals/clinics for 24 hours where the number of doctors are adequate for such schedules However, Dr Kyei said the Ministry has been dragging its feet on the issue of regularlisation of the payment of the allowance through the banks with the excuse that it wants to weed out ghost names.

Reacting to the Minister of Health's, statement on Tuesday that the doctors were interested in holding their patients to ransom and intimidating them with strike actions, Dr Kyei said "What we are doing may not be pleasant now but it is for the long term good of this nation".

"It is important to address this problem of poor conditions of service for doctors once and for all.

"We wish to conclude that if government is really committed to keeping doctors in this country by stopping the on-going exodus, then the authorities concerned should stop subjecting us to these avoidable hardships", Dr Kyei said.

Gomoa Ajumako (Central Region) 15 April 

The Omanhene of Gomoa Ajumako traditional area, Okatakyi Nyanful Krampah the Tenth, has elevated three chiefs and a queenmother to the status of divisional chiefs.

They are Nana Obrenu Otabil of Gomoa Adansi, Adontenhehe, Nana Ayibaw Mbir of Gomoa Nkran and Nana Otsew Adabraku of Gomoa Mankoadze, Nyinfahene and Nguantuahene respectively, and Nana Oteibah, queenmother of Gomoa Abaasa, Obaatan.

Okatakyi Krampah, who announced this at his first traditional council meeting at Gomoa Ajumako on Wednesday, said the elevation of the four "was in appreciation of their contribution to peace and development in the area". He said his administration would reward chiefs who initiate programmes to improve the living conditions of their people. He cautioned those who fan chieftaincy disputes to stop the practice.

Okatakyi Krampah said his aim is to foster unity, not only among chiefs in the area but also within the entire Gomoa Assin Traditional area, adding that he was looking forward to the day when the two traditional councils would celebrate joint festivals.

He urged the chiefs to review outmoded customary practices in the area to suit present needs of the society and appealed to the Ashanti Goldfield Company (AGC) which prospected gold in the area to start its mining activities in time to provide employment opportunities for the youth.

Nana Akyere Anyin, Queenmother of the area, urged her colleagues to set good examples for other women to follow. "You must see yourselves as role models and desist from behaviours which can tarnish the image of chieftaincy and womanhood," she advised.

Mr Kow Anyanful, Gomoa District Chief Executive, urged the traditional rulers to impose moderate fines at their courts to encourage people to send their cases there instead of to the law courts.

Sekondi , April 14, GNA-

 A Centre for Aids Information Network (CAIN) was on Wednesday inaugurated in Sekondi to give out information on AIDS/HIV epidemic in the country.

The Centre, the first international HIV/AIDS Information Network in the country, would also co-ordinate experiences of those concerned with or affected by the epidemic locally and internationally.

Mr. Moses Mukasa, Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the AIDS epidemic is getting out of hand, with a cumulative total of 29,546 cases reported in the country as at December 1998.

It is estimated that about 600,000 Ghanaians have been infected with HIV to date.

Eighty percent of the infections are through heterosexual relationships and 10 percent and 5 percent to vertical transmission and blood products respectively.

The figures represent cases reported at hospitals. The actual cases could be higher.

Mr. Mukasa said the increasing cases of the disease show that either education has either been insufficient or that the message has not gone down well.

He urged African governments to formulate a policy and establish a social environment conducive to the successful combating of the disease. This can be done through the development of a strong commitment to confront AIDS/HIV at the highest levels of leadership. People should also become aware of the rising status of the epidemic and its devastating impact.

Mrs. Esther Lily Nkansah, Western Regional Minister, in an address read for her said 104 new AIDS cases were recorded in January this year in the region.

Mrs Nkansah said 604 cases were recorded in the region from January to June last year. The HIV/AIDS issue is a collective and communal concern involving everyone. If the development goals are to be attained, everyone must sharpen their reaction to the epidemic and reflect seriously on how best to control it.

Akim Wenchi (Eastern Region) 15 April

Miss Ghana 1998, Afia Owusuaa-Marfo, was in Akim Wenchi in the Kwaebibirem district of the Eastern region to solicit financial assistance for street children.

Her visit was at the instance of the Salvation Army Church. The district chief executive, Mr Korankye Ababio, asked her to encourage and promote the ideals of Ghanaians culture wherever she goes and let the quest for peace, love and harmony feature well in her messages.

Mr Ababio also asked her to use her position to promote and educate the youth on their civic responsibilities and the dangers of social evils like drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

The DCE said he was disturbed that despite the campaign on mass school enrolment, there are reports of increasing incidence of irregular attendance at the basic school level as a result of children engaging in diamond winning, petty trading and other odd jobs to earn some income.

Mr Ababio urged parents not to shirk their responsibility to educate their children, saying "formal education is the birth right of every child".

Miss Owusuaa-Marfo promised to continue working to improve the conditions of street children and the deprived in the society generally.