Health outreach boat grounded; Lack of fuel hampers service to more than 200 communities

December 22, 2015, 3:16 pm

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A refurbished 32-foot fibre-glass boat to help health personnel in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District to undertake visits to the islands in the district is idling on the shores of the Volta Lake at Amankwa Tornu. This is because the district health directorate is not able to fuel the boat for the outreach programmes, thereby denying those communities of quality healthcare. Out of the 372 communities in the district, 224, representing about two-thirds of the total population of the district, are located in hard-to-reach areas such as the Dwarf and Didza islands.

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Charcoal business booms in Afram Plains

December 23, 2015, 3:27 pm

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In spite of stringent measures to discourage charcoal burning in the Kwahu Afram Plains, the charcoal business continues to boom as a result of fierce resistance from the burners, dealers and transporters against moves to control the business. They accuse the Forestry Commission of deliberately imposing hefty levies on the production of charcoal, citing the case where depending on the size of the cargo vehicle, they were being charged GH¢150 to GH¢250. Those in the business consider the levy as outrageous, wondering why the assemblies which collect such levies for developmental purposes should collect only GH¢ 40 and GH¢ 60 while the Forestry Commission takes the rest.

Barter trading, an option in Kwahu Afram Plains

December 28, 2015, 10:34 pm

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Barter trading remains a viable option in the Kwahu Afram Plains for traders and some educational institutions. The practice is equally a brisk system of trading along some of the fishing communities in the area. Notably on market days at Donkorkrom, Maame Krobo and Ekye Amanfrom, interested individuals mutually exchange items which they would otherwise have bought with money.

Pay property rate to avert court action - LEKMA

December 28, 2015, 10:38 pm

≫ Next: ECG mounts steel poles in Afram Plains

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Property owners in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) in the Greater Accra Region who have not paid their property rates for 2015 risk being dragged to court. The assembly is reminding such persons that the Local Government Act empowers assemblies to take legal action to retrieve money owed them.

ECG mounts steel poles in Afram Plains

December 29, 2015, 12:53 pm

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The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is replacing all wooden electricity poles with steel tubular poles in the Kwahu Afram Plains. So far, it has secured 649 of the steel poles under the ECG-funded projects to replace all the wooden poles, especially those in the bush and isolated communities described as ‘hot spots’. The wooden poles are at risk of destruction from bush fires especially during the dry season, hence their replacement.

Strive for quality education : D-G urges educational workers

January 3, 2016, 1:01 pm

≫ Next: Kotoka Airport Customs Division exceeds target

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The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Jacob Kor Aaworb-Nang, has urged stakeholders in the education sector to resolve to work harder for the provision of “quality education for our children”. “As we rejoice and celebrate this wonderful season of New Year, let our resolution be how best to contribute our quota to quality education for our children. “In doing this, we should do away with teacher absenteeism, lateness, laziness, drunkenness and other social vices which are formidable obstacles to sound upbringing,” he said in his New Year message to Ghanaians.

Kotoka Airport Customs Division exceeds target

January 4, 2016, 11:15 pm

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For the first time in seven years, the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has not only met its revenue target, but exceeded it by GH¢7,699,241. The division was able to collect GH¢480,259,241.64 for the year ending December 2015. Its target for the year was GH¢472,560,000. The last time the division met its target was in 2008 and since then, it has consistently fallen short of its target until 2015.

GIBA to sue NMC over Content Standards Regulations 2015

January 5, 2016, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: BNI investigates 135 teachers for teaching with fake certificates

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The Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) has described the Content Standards Regulations 2015, the new Legislative Instrument (LI 2224) passed by Parliament on December 9, 2015 to sanitise the airwaves, as a needless attempt to reintroduce the Criminal Libel Law through the backdoor. It, therefore, vowed to seek interpretation of the law at the Supreme Court before the end of this week to determine “whether we are just crying foul for its sake or that we have a case,” the President of GIBA, Mr Akwasi Agyemang, said in an interview in Accra yesterday. He said the association had already notified the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, Legal and Communication of its intention.

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BNI investigates 135 teachers for teaching with fake certificates

January 7, 2016, 1:48 pm

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Eleven more teachers who submitted fake certificates to facilitate their engagement as teachers are being investigated by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). This brings to 135 teachers believed to be operating with fake certificates in different parts of the country who are being investigated by the BNI. The move is part of efforts by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to sanitise the educational system to ensure that only those with genuine certificates are maintained. As part of the exercise, the various regional directors of education have been tasked to forward verification reports on all teachers in both basic and second-cycle institutions under their jurisdiction.

67th New Year School opens

January 11, 2016, 3:10 pm

≫ Next: Use ICT for proper record keeping in hospitals — Bediako

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The 67th Annual New Year School and Conference opened at the University of Ghana Legon, yesterday, with focus on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to improve healthcare delivery in the country. The event, on the theme: “Promoting universal health for sustainable development in Ghana: Is ICT the game changer?” has brought together people from academia, industry, local and national government to deliberate on issues of both national and international relevance. Topics to be discussed during the five-day school include: “Evaluating Ghana’s e-health policy”; “Creating an enabling environment for ICT and health”; “Data collection for health: The role of ICT”; “Leveraging ICT to improve reproductive health”; “Sustainable healthcare financing”; and “Capacity enhancement for healthcare professionals: The role of ICT”.

Use ICT for proper record keeping in hospitals — Bediako

January 12, 2016, 2:24 pm

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A former Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, has observed that healthcare delivery in the country could improve significantly, if Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was used to generate data on patients for proper decision making. She said the current situation where data and personal records of patients were usually paper-based made it difficult for proper planning, monitoring and evaluation of healthcare systems. New Year School Dr Bediako made the observation yesterday when she chaired a symposium on the topic, “Data collection for health; the role of ICT”, on the third day of the ongoing 67th Annual New Year School and Conference at the University of Ghana, Legon. Other topics discussed during the day were: “Creating the enabling environment for ICT and health” and “Leveraging ICT to improve reproductive health”.

Donkorkrom Presby Hospital appeals for ambulance

January 13, 2016, 2:33 pm

≫ Next: Use ICT to develop health professionals : Prof. Akosa

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Health delivery at the Presbyterian Hospital at Donkorkrom in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District in the Eastern Region is facing challenges because the hospital does not have a reliable ambulance. “Our ambulance is very old, it is weak, and as we speak now, it has been grounded. We have been relying on the community ambulance, which also for some time now has been parked at the district assembly,” the General Manager of the hospital, Mr Kweku Fianko Gyan, told the Daily Graphic in an interview at Donkorkrom. He said the situation had compelled the facility, the only hospital serving both inland and island communities of the plains, to constantly rely on taxis and pickups to transport referred cases on the Maame Krobo-Agogo road to the Agogo Hospital.

Use ICT to develop health professionals : Prof. Akosa

January 13, 2016, 2:38 pm

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A former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, has observed that healthcare professionals who do not go for continuous training courses are dangerous to their patients. “Health care is a learning industry and if you are a doctor and you don’t take part in such training programmes, your value to the patient is a suspect,” he said. Contributing to the topic, “Capacity enhancement for healthcare professionals: The role of ICT,” at the ongoing New Year School at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Akosa said considering the fact that in some hospitals there was only one doctor, ICT could be used for professional development programmes.

President erred in GITMO saga: Says Joe Ghartey

January 21, 2016, 5:37 pm

≫ Next: Christian Community Microfinance will maintain standards

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A former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mr Joe Ghartey, has waded into the controversial GITMO detainees saga, questioning the authority under which President John Mahama had to bring the detainees into the country. He said under the 1992 Constitution, the President derived his powers from the Constitution and, therefore, did not have absolute powers to do as he pleased. Speaking on the topic, “The Presidency, Executive authority and checks and balances” as the first in a series of the Almond Institute’s New Year Lectures, Mr Ghartey, a former minister in the Kufuor administration, said, “The President does not have that power. He can talk to the Minister of Interior, who would talk to the Director of Immigration, but he cannot usurp that power because that power is given to somebody else.”

Christian Community Microfinance will maintain standards

January 25, 2016, 4:03 pm

≫ Next: ‘Report unsolicited text messages from mobile network operators’

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The General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, has assured that the Christian Community Microfinance Ltd (CCML) will not compromise on standards and the security of their clients’ money. He said the mission of the CCML was to deliver sustainable returns by offering excellent customer-centred financial services to support its community. Rev. Opuni-Frimpong gave the assurance when he interacted with the staff of the CCML in Accra .

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‘Report unsolicited text messages from mobile network operators’

January 26, 2016, 2:04 pm

≫ Next: CHPS centres improve health care in Kwahu Afram Plains

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The Executive Director of the Data Protection Commission (DPC), Mrs Teki Akuetteh Falconer, has appealed to the public to report data collectors and processors who infringe on their privacy for investigation and redress. She noted that the public was yet to take advantage of the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843), which was passed to regulate the processing of personal information and also to make provision for the process, obtaining, holding, using or disclosing personal information. Mrs Falconer, who made the appeal at a press conference in Accra yesterday, cited for instance that since the passage of the Act in 2012, only one person had so far reported harassment with unsolicited text messages from mobile network operators to the commission. She said the commission was unable to confront the telecom operators because they had always insisted that they had the subscribers’ consent.

CHPS centres improve health care in Kwahu Afram Plains

January 26, 2016, 4:55 pm

≫ Next: More doctors needed in SADA zone

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The Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds introduced by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) are playing significant roles in antenatal care in the Kwahu Afram Plains North and South districts in the Eastern Region. The availability of CHPS centres within the various communities enables pregnant women to seek the needed services without travelling to the hospital for antenatal care. A check at the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Hospital indicates that in 2014, 26 per cent of the total hospital visitation was in respect of antenatal care, but that dropped to 20 per cent in 2015.

More doctors needed in SADA zone

January 27, 2016, 1:51 pm

≫ Next: Ensure peaceful election - Prof. Kuenyehia

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The Executive Director of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), Mr Peter Kwame Yeboah, has bemoaned the high rate of maternal deaths in the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone of the country and blamed the situation on the unproportioned distribution of critical health personnel in the country. In an interview in Accra, Mr Yeboah said currently 450 doctors were needed to bridge the doctor-patient ratio per population requirements in the SADA zone. He said the effect of this acute shortage was felt more in the Upper West and East regions of the country. He cited, for instance, the case in the whole of the Upper West Region where there was only one obstetrician/gynaecologist and advocated for the equitable distribution of health professionals throughout the country to avert avoidable deaths, particularly pregnancy-related ones.

Ensure peaceful election - Prof. Kuenyehia

February 5, 2016, 1:38 am

≫ Next: Ministry discusses technical education with Finnish delegation

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A former Vice-President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands, Professor Akua Kuenyehia, has advised Ghanaians to work at ensuring that the country comes out of this year’s general election devoid of violence. “This is an election year and the mantra is ‘Peace, Peace, Peace’. We should avoid election violence; we should avoid anything that will disturb the peace of this country,” she said, and added that peace was a major factor that determined a country’s economic growth. Prof. Kuenyehia was delivering the maiden lecture on Peace, titled, “The quest for peace in Ghana and Africa,” organised by the Rotary Club of Accra West, in collaboration with the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).

Ministry discusses technical education with Finnish delegation

February 5, 2016, 1:50 am

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The Ministry of Education on Tuesday engaged a 27-member business delegation from Finland in a meeting to learn from them how the Finnish Government had been able to make technical education attractive to its people. The sector Minister, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, said it was clear that technical and vocational education was the best way to go, but pointed out that the challenge in Ghana had been the perception that technical education was for dropouts, saying she believed that was not helping the cause of technical education.