GRi in Parliament 02-06-2000
Accra (Greater Accra) 02 May 2000
Professor Kwaku Danso-Boafo, Minister of
Health, on Tuesday announced in Parliament that the ministry is embarking on a
national clinical project to improve medical diagnosis in health institutions.
In pursuit of this objective, the health sector
has taken the necessary steps to introduce the requisite software to interpret
laboratory results to meet the needs of users of such information, irrespective
of where they were trained, he told the House.
Prof. Danso-Boafo was responding to a parliamentary
question on laboratory results at the Ridge Hospital.
Mr. Stephen Kwaku Balado Manu, NPP-Ahafo-Ano
South, had asked the minister what was being done to resolve the controversy
about laboratory results at the Ridge Hospital.
Prof. Danso-Boafo disagreed with the questioner
that the results were controversial and explained that the alleged controversy
in the laboratory results could be attributed to the misinterpretation of the
imperial units (results) that the equipment generates by some of the staff at
the hospital who are not used to them.
He said as at now, the results that the
equipment generated came out with the normal ranges to guide the clinicians.
He told the House that the suppliers of the
equipment have agreed to install the requisite microchips to enable it to
simultaneously generate laboratory results in both the metric and imperial
units to meet the needs of the users, irrespective of where they were trained.
In an answer to another question by Mr.
Balado-Manu, on whether the Ministry was aware of a resurgence of river
blindness at Mpasaaso in the Ahafo-Ano South District of the Ashanti Region and
what were measures being taking to tackle the problem, the minister told the
House that the Onchocerciasis (river blindness) Control Programme is
nation-wide, as such, every single area in the country that has the problem is
being catered for.
Prof. Danso-Boafo also noted that a team from
the World Health Organisation (WHO) visited the affected area to undertake a
survey to determine the incidence of the disease resulting from an influx of
the causative agent, the black fly.
Following the survey, the ministry has taken
measures to address the problem, including equipping the Regional Health
Management Team with the necessary training, which they would impart to the
district to treat the affected communities.
The treatment, which is free of charge, is
given yearly to all communities for between 10 and 20-years under the Community-Directed
Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) strategy.
The minister mentioned other strategies the
sector had taken to address the problem of river blindness as strengthening of
treatment and public education to enable the public to appreciate the need to
take preventive measures.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris,
NPP-Gukpegu/Sabongida, asked about the ministry’s plans to convert the old Regional
Hospital at Tamale into a Municipal or Metropolitan Hospital to ease the
pressure on the present regional hospital.
Prof. Danso-Boafo announced there is a
programme to upgrade the Old Regional Hospital at Tamale into a Metropolitan
Hospital starting 2004 and said a site near the hospital is currently being
developed as the nucleus of a Metropolitan Polyclinic.
He said that substantial infrastructure had
already been developed and the clinic was operating very actively, while
additional construction was going on to further develop the clinic into a
metropolitan polyclinic.
The ministry is also making every effort to
secure the needed funding to begin the project at the estimated time.
Prof. Danso-Boafo, who was making his maiden
appearance before the House, assured the Members of co-operation from the health
sector during his tenure of office.
On when the ministry's promise to turn the
Tamale Regional Hospital into a teaching hospital would materialise, Prof.
Danso-Boafo said the programme to rehabilitate the regional hospital to the
level of a teaching hospital was on course.
He told the House that, with the collaboration
of the health partners, the design briefs, which involve a total assessment of
current stock of buildings, additional requirements of buildings and general
inventory, would be completed by June, this year.
A conference between the ministry and the
health partners planned for June 14 will discuss the design briefs after which
tenders can be invited based on the briefs.
The minister explained, however, that the
sector was committed to the rehabilitation of the Tamale Regional Hospital.
It also has a clear objective of providing
facilities to be used for teaching purposes, while the medical school component
of the hospital project is being planned by the Ministry of Education.
Asked whether the ministry was aware of an
Italian grant to Ghana to develop the regional hospital into a teaching health
facility, Prof. Danso-Boafo replied in the negative and pleaded for time to
apprise himself with such information and furnish the House accordingly.
He assured the House that the ministry would
provide the resources to facilitate medical education in the country even
though the sector is not directly responsible for education.
GRi../