ELLEMBELE GETS MOBILE CLINIC (PAGE 46, JUNE 17, 2010)

A multi-purpose mobile clinic to cater for the health needs of people living in deprived communities in the Ellembele District of the Western Region has been handed over to the district assembly.
The dilapidated clinic of the Nkroful Agricultural Secondary School (NASS) has also been refurbished and equipped for use by the students and the staff of the school.
The projects were the personal initiative of the Member of Parliament for Ellembele, Mr Emmanuel K. Armah Buah, to help his people, with support from a team of young medical volunteers from New York in the United States.
The mobile clinic, which cost more than GH¢100,000, was provided with a dispensary, a communication facility, a consulting room, a doctor’s examination bed, a storage facility, oxygen, among others, and it will travel to the deprived communities to deliver health care.
Other supplies included cartons of medical supplies from various pharmaceutical companies, such as Kinapharma, Tobinco Pharmacy, M&G Pharmacy and Aryton Drugs, worth thousands of Ghana cedis to support the efforts of the MP to bring relief to the people.
The mobile clinic is expected to serve about 40 per cent of the population in the deprived communities where, as a result of the lack of good roads, health, transportation and telecommunication facilities, the inhabitants die from preventable diseases.
Hitherto, the people in those deprived communities engaged in self-medication and purchased drugs from quack healthcare providers, while many women died during delivery due to lack of health personnel and access to health facilities.
In a statement prior to the inauguration of the mobile clinic, Mr Buah, who is also a Deputy Energy Minister, said it was sad that people could die from preventable illnesses.
“We, as public servants, must rededicate ourselves to the plight of the poor, respond to the voices of the people and address the concerns of the underprivileged in our society,” he said.
He said it was about time voters were given hope in hopeless situations, adding, “I must say that the plight of the poor should guide our politicians to aspire and help people in deprived communities who continue to vote for us but die from preventable diseases.”
The MP said it was the fervent wish of the government to meet the health and educational needs of the people, saying, “But before they get to us, we have to move to ensure that we support those whose efforts drive the economy of Ghana and feed the people.”
Aside from the mobile clinic, he said, the government was working hard on the district hospital project, noting that he would ensure that it was delivered.
The Deputy Western Regional Director of Health, Dr Kwaku Karikari, commended the MP and the medical volunteers and expressed the hope that the facility would promote health care in the district.