The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has launched a mobile clinic dubbed “Dr. Dr. NDC” for free health screening in all 15 constituencies of the Upper East region.
The introduction of the clinic, according to the party’s Deputy National Women Organiser, Dr. Catherine Deynu, speaks up for the NDC as a family who truly cares about the wellbeing of the citizenry.
“It is all about the health of our people. You know, our president, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, is so much concerned about the health of Ghanaians that he vowed to build regional hospitals in all the ten regions, and he did. And down to the district level, he built polyclinics. He didn’t end there. He went further to the various communities to build CHPS compounds for them.
“He didn’t end there. He brought the Onuador Van that would go to places where there is none immediately to be taking care of the people before the CHPS compounds would be opened at those other places as well,” Dr. Deynu, who is also the founder of the “Dr. Dr. NDC”, said Tuesday at the launch of the outreach programme in Bolgatanga, the Upper East regional capital.
She added, saying, “Dr. Dr. NDC that is launched today is part of the ‘Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana’ agenda. We are following the footsteps of our father, President John Dramani Mahama, to make sure this agenda is achieved. You know, of late, you would realise people at the age of 40, 30, 35, they are no more. Some, maybe out of ignorance, they have hypertension, or there is just an avoidable cause that would lead them to death. So, we check it; we identify those things; we advise them on what to do.”
Screening not just an advantage over NPP
Whilst it is most likely that the initiative will fetch a good number of votes for the NDC at the December 7 polls, the Deputy National Women Organiser rather looks even more concerned about the medical benefits those who will embrace the free offer will derive.
And even before detractors, particularly the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), may heckle at the innovation as a gimmick only meant to boost the NDC’s electoral chances, Dr. Deynu has given an assurance that the programme has come to stay. She tasked the 15 constituency coordinators of the programme in the region to keep their focus on ensuring that the recipients of the services get value in return for the time spent and the trust invested.
“With the screening exercise, it’s not just about organising a screening in one big community, bring people and we screen. No. People really need to get the value of whatever we are doing. We need to give health talk. With the screening I’ve been doing over the years, I can say over 46% of the screening I did so far are identified cases of hypertension. I kept wondering and I’ve been asking myself why. It kept rising and that of blood sugar level, too.
“It’s not just about screening people but, then, we advise them. Many are very thankful today for this exercise because they got to know they were hypertensive. I do take their numbers personally, call them on phone and ask -how are you faring, have you gone for medication? That is what gives value to what we are doing now,” she emphasised.
Initiative is a clone of what Rawlings, Mahama gave Ghanaians
Taking free health service to the doorsteps of deprived folks in rural communities is nothing new in Ghana. And this is not the first time the Upper East Region has received an attention from the Dr. Dr. NDC team. Members of the team were in the Talensi Constituency close to the 2015 by-election in that area. But this is the first time the team is extending its helping hand across the entire region.
As Antoh Kofi Abraham, a leading member of the team in charge of operations, himself cited, there was ever a time the construction of the Akosombo Dam left some communities cut off from the rest of the country by excess water. Those communities became what some fishing neighbourhoods surrounded by water already were called in those days- the island communities.
The Rawlings government introduced a ferry named “Onipanua”, meaning “Human companion”, to deliver health screening services to the inhabitants of those island communities. But the ferry sank in 2000. President Mahama provided 6 vehicles branded “Onuador Vans” to offer similar mobile services to areas without fixed health facilities. The Dr. Dr. NDC outreach programme, Mr. Antoh emphasised, is a clone of the mobile health assistance for which the NDC has remained well known since the onset of time.
“We have regional coordinators in all the regions. When we get to a region, we meet the team- that is, the nurses and the clinicians from all the constituencies- at a point. We brief them on what to do. Then, we go and set about two or three constituencies; we’ll set up a screening centre there; we’ll screen the people for free and refer those that we need to refer to the hospitals.
“We will get a doctor who will prescribe for the nurses to dispense. That is how we do it. Then, we would now meet the Regional Minister, the MMDCEs, the MPs and the parliamentary candidates. Then, we hand over the team to the team leader and we move to another region to continue with the activities. So, any constituency that is ready for the screening will set the date, the venue and do the public announcement. The team leader will go to the constituency with the team to set a screening centre and work,” Mr. Antoh explained.
The team, immediately after the launch Tuesday, visited three constituencies- Talensi, Bolgatanga East and Chiana-Paga- where hundreds of constituents turned up to be screened. A senior member of the team, Augustine Kudiabor, observed that the exercise in the region would be a momentous success in the records of Dr. Dr. NDC. The team is expected to continue Wednesday with the screening exercise in the Bolgatanga East and the Bolgatanga Central constituencies.
Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Edward Adeti
