Four NGOs dispute NHIS figures

 FRONT PAGE STORY (DAILY GRAPHIC)
Story: Fauziatu Adam
THE number of Ghanaians who have been registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is generating controversy between the NHIS and four non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
While the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) claims that about 65 per cent of Ghanaians are registered under the scheme, the four NGOs say only 18 per cent of Ghanaians are registered under it.
According to them, what was even more alarming was that 64 per cent of the rich in the country had been registered under the scheme, compared to just 29 per cent of the poor.
The NGOs are the International Social Development Centre (ISODEC), the Alliance for Reproductive Health (ARH), Essential Platform and the international aid agency, Oxfam.
The NGOs challenged the registration figures of the NHIS and made a scathing overview of the scheme at the launch of the universal access to quality health care advocacy paper in Accra on Wednesday.
The executive summary of the report stated that although every Ghanaian paid for the NHIS through VAT, as many as 82 per cent remained excluded from the scheme.
The report said those excluded from the NHIS still paid user fees in the cash-and-carry system and indicated that 25 years after fees for health was introduced by the World Bank, millions of citizens were being excluded from health care.
It estimated that 36 per cent of health spending was wasted due to inefficiencies and poor investments.
"Moving away from health insurance administration alone could save US$83 million each year, enough to pay 23,000 nurses," it further stated.
The report suggested that the government could afford to increase spending on health by 200 per cent to US$54 per capita by 2015 through savings, good quality aid but primarily through improved progressive taxation of Ghana's own resources, especially oil.    
Contesting the report, the Deputy Corporate Affairs Manager of the NHIA, Mr Ametor Quarme, told the Daily Graphic that the claim by the NGOs that only 18 per cent of Ghanaians had registered under the NHIS could not be accurate.
From the records of the NHIA, he said, as many as 15.5 million people, representing 65 per cent of the population, had registered under scheme.
He said it was unfortunate that the NGOs did not contact the NHIA for any information, nor did their report disclose the source of the information which formed the basis for their conclusions.
Mr Quarme said the NHIA registered children under 18 in the name of their mothers and gave them one card, noting that the NGOs might have failed to take into account that arrangement.
On the issue of the registration of more rich people than the poor, Mr Quarme said the NHIA did not register policy holders on the basis of their economic and financial situation.

ADB holds thanksgiving service

Story: Fauziatu Adam
The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) has organised its first end-of-year thanksgiving service to thank God for the lives of the staff and customers of the bank and pray for God's guidance and protection.
The Presiding Priest in charge of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Abelenkpe, Rev Father Richard Aziati, who delivered the sermon, urged workers of the bank to create a positive image among their colleagues, so that "when you leave one day you will be remembered positively".
"Immediately you are given your appointment letter, the clock begins to tick and your countdown begins. Be conscious of the fact that the clock begins to tick and create a positive image among your colleagues," he said.
He advised the workers to love everybody and not discriminate against anybody.
He also asked them to forgive those who offended them and ask for forgiveness from those whom they offended.
Rev Father Aziati encouraged the staff to work and make profit, citing the Bible quotation, "Multiply, be fruitful and subdue the earth".
"As members of ADB, you should follow the rules and regulations of the company and not to go anywhere the company forbids you to go," he added.
He reminded them that money was the root of all evil and tasked them to pray for God's guidance to fight the temptation of embezzling the funds of the company.
He asked them to take care of their souls and not to sell them for the love of money, since their souls would move on even if they died.
"The body will rot, but the soul continues to move on and it will be judged on the day of reckoning," Rev Father Aziati noted.
The thanksgiving service ended with prayers for the lives of Ghanaians and the world at large.

Let’s contribute to minimise mental illness

Article: Fauziatu Adam
IT is widely believed that mental illnesses are caused by supernatural or evil forces that could be best cured by traditional medicine or spiritual prayers. It is common for a patient to be removed from a hospital by a relative and taken to a traditional or spiritual healer.
This psychiatric practice has existed for more than a century in Ghana. In some situations it is not known if the patient’s recovery could be attributed to medication or the intervention of the traditional healer or both.
In the ninetieth century, patients suffering form mental illness in the then Gold Coast were kept in prisons. Before this period, mental patients were left to fend for themselves or sent to traditional healers to be cured.
The colonial government in 1888 under Sir Edward Griffiths passed a legislative instrument (The Lunatic Asylum Ordinance), to establish an asylum in a vacated High Court building in Accra.
 It was not until 1904 that the Accra Psychiatric Hospital was built and officially commissioned in 1906, which was to accommodate 200 patients. During that period psychiatric treatment was primarily in the form of custodial care.
 The Accra Psychiatric Hospital has undergone major expansion in the past 105 years and currently houses about 1200 inmates; Half of them are cured but still living in the hospital because their relatives have abandoned them, and some others have no home to go to.
There were extensive changes to the hospital buildings, and staff training and recruitment were expanded. Other reforms introduced were the removal of chains from the legs of patients, refraining from punishing patients and discouraging isolation.
Currently, the hospital lacks resources in terms of staff, finances, drugs, among others, making it difficult for the few medical team there to attend to patients promptly.
Accessibility to psychiatric care
With a population of 24 million, and three psychiatric hospitals with 1200 beds, the ratio of one bed to 20,000 persons is glaringly insufficient. There is the uneven accessibilty of mental hospitals in the country since all three mental hospitals are located in the southern part of the country. It is no wonder then that some patients or their relatives would rather seek help from traditional sources, not only because of their cultural or religious beliefs in the cause of psychiatric illness, but because of easy or inexpensive access to traditional healers who live in their community.
When I visited the Accra Psychiatric hospital, Dr Osei took me to three wards. Two special wards -one for male patients and the other one for the female patients and the normal ward for only male patients. Before we went to the wards, the doctor asked me if I could stand what I was about to see.
Sincerely, that question alone got me frightened. We went to the special ward for the male which was also called the forensic ward, there were four staff attending to the needs of 232 male patients. There were two male nurses and two health assistants. The other male ward called the acute ward had 126 patients with only 49 beds and four nurses attending to them at the time of the visit. The largest female ward also had 112 patients taken care of by five nurses.
The food alone could send signals that the patients were treated like criminals. Most of them were fighting over the food I would not give to my pet. Moreover, the place was congested and I was told that most of them slept outside and when it rains the situation really gets worse.
According to Dr Osei, the World Health Organisation (WHO), requires that mental healthcare should start from self care through informal community care, primary healthcare, community health service, regional and finally to long stay facilities. He, however, noted that the reversed situation prevailed in Ghana.
"This situation if not corrected would spell doom for the country," he cautioned.
The pending Mental Health Bill, which he said had been hailed by the WHO as one of the best legislation worldwide, seeks to ensure that adequate provision of resources has nine parts, consisting of a mental health board, a Service, a Review Tribunal (to review mental cases), Visiting Committee, Voluntary Treatment and involuntary treatment.
The other parts of the Bill are the Rights of a Person (to take a look at human right abuses and discrimination associated with mental health), Protection of the Vulnerable Group and miscellaneous provisions. The Bill would also de-emphasise institutional care and help place mental care on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He charged the media to put the government through the Ministry of Health on it toes to ensure the passage of the Bill, adding that the poor state of mental rights, protection of mental patients were justification for its passage.

Solutions:
With the pending bill which is likely to be passed soon, government should make sure that the contents of the bill are implemented. It is not only the passage of the bill that can enforce the implementation.
There is the need for the provision of adequate infrastructure and logistics for the training of community psychiatric nurses to encourage community healthcare with the view of bringing patients closer to their families for them to feel a part of society.
It is only through such realistic steps that the nation can avoid the danger we would all be exposed to if cured mental patients make the psychiatric hospitals their eternal home.
The government should help in the decentralisation of treatment of mental patients, and also establish mental health departments in all the general and community hospitals across the country to help provide easy access for mental health treatment in the country.
Furthermore, families tend to neglect their relatives who happen to find themselves in such situations because of the stigmatisation of mental patients.
Indeed, stigmatisation, as well as the lack of understanding of mental illness in the country, is one major problem that worsens the mental illnesses. There is, therefore, the need for more education on mental health to enhance the public’s understanding of the issue to erase the perception of the public on mental illness.
Stigmatisation is natural in every human being but it can be controlled.
According to Dr Osei, "if we are able to embark on a massive public education against stigmatisation, then it would be reduced”.
Community care is critical in mental treatment, since, according to health experts, it makes patients feel a part of the community, instead of being chained in hospitals. But this demands the training of more staff to perform the enormous task.
The media goes a long way in influencing the lives of people. The media is there to basically educate, inform and entertain the public. It should also liaise with mental institutions in the country to inform people and the various institutions about mental illnesses and what it comes with.

CANCER SCARE. 1200 Children get it every year

 FRONT PAGE STORY (DAILY GRAPHIC)
Story: Fauziatu Adam
IT is estimated that 1,200 children aged between 0-15 years are infected with cancer in Ghana every year.
According to the President of the Robert Mitchell Memorial Cancer Foundation, Mrs Emma Mitchell, the situation was aggravated by the ignorance of some parents to take their children to the nearest hospital when symptoms of the illness were detected in their children.
What was even alarming, she said, was the fact that the survival rate in the country was 20 per cent, compared to 70-80 per cent in developed countries.
According to her, health experts had maintained that childhood cancers could be cured, provided prompt and essential treatment was accessible.
Mrs Mitchell, a former minister of state and now a Member of the Council of State, therefore, advised parents to immediately report to health specialists for early detection and cure when they detected signs such as prolonged fever, loss of weight and appetite, fatigue, easy bruising or bleeding in their children.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic after a float had been organised by the foundation along selected streets of Accra to create awareness of childhood cancer, Mrs Mitchell explained that lack of knowledge and inadequate medical facilities were some of the contributory factors responsible for the alarming rate of the disease in the country.
Cancer is a class of diseases characterised by out-of-control cell growth. There are over 100 different types of cancer and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected.
Cancer harms the body when damaged cells divide uncontrollably to form lumps or masses of tissue called tumours (except in the case of leukaemia in which cancer prohibits normal blood function by abnormal cell division in the blood stream).
Tumours can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous and circulatory systems and they can release hormones that alter body function.
Tumours that stay in one spot and demonstrate limited growth are generally considered to be benign.
Dr Juliana Mitchell of the Child Health Department at the  Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital advised against the use of pesticides at close range to children because pesticides were associated with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Dr Mitchell, a daughter of Mrs Mitchell, said pollution of the environment, continuous infection of malaria, hepatitis and other diseases such as HIV/AIDS could precipitate cancer diseases.

Accra Psychiatry Hospital repatriates more cured inmates

Story: Fauziatu Adam
THE Accra Psychiatric Hospital has so far repatriated 112 cured inmates as part of the ongoing decongesting exercise by the hospital authorities.
The third batch of cured mental patients, comprising 10 patients from the Greater Accra Region and 15 from the Eastern Region, would be sent to their homes.
Two of the cured patients who were sent home under the decongesting exercise have been returned to the hospital. One of the two was said to have resorted to the use of cannabis (wee) after he had been released to his relatives.
In interviews with some of the cured patients, Abraham Borketey said he had been on admission at the hospital for six weeks now.
“I was fighting with my relatives over a piece of land and they brought me here, thinking I was mad because I became very violent over that land. The sad thing is that they never visited me. I am happy I am going home today and promise never to fight again,” he said.
Another patient, Noel Tetteh, has been at the hospital for one month.
“I do not know why I was even brought here. I come from Kpone around Tema. My family members brought me because of something I could not even explain. But I am happy I am going home. Unfortunately, my family members do not know that I am coming home,” he said.
For Aku, a cured patient, she was reluctant to go home. She refused to enter the bus and but for a little persuasion and promises from the authorities that they would come for her some time later, she would not have entered the bus.
So far, 70 patients have been transported by the hospital to their respective homes, while relatives of 42 patients have come for them.
The Chief Psychiatrist of the hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, said the exercise would continue for the next two weeks, noting that it would help the patients reintegrate into society.
  “The longer they remain in the hospital, the more difficult it becomes for them to reunite with society,”  he said.

Mental Institution to collaborate with sister instiution

The Accra Psychiatric Hospital is to collaborate with the Kaduna Neuro Psychiatric Hospital in Nigeria to expose the staff of the former hospital to new techniques of providing proper mental health care.
The relationship, which is to start by June this year, will kick-start with five staff of the hospital.
The Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, told the Daily Graphic that the relationship would enable the beneficiaries to share knowledge and experience to enrich their expertise in the administration of mental health at the hospital.
He added that the second batch of cured inmates of the hospital were sent home on Wednesday as part of the exercise to decongest the hospital.
Dr Osei said the second batch, numbering 30, was made up of 25 males and five females.
 He said the Kaduna Neuro Psychiatric Hospital had a doctor-patient ratio of 20:80 and described the state of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital as “an apology of a mental health institution” because of its low staff strength and serious congestion.
When the Daily Graphic visited the Male Special Ward which treats forensic cases, it realised that there were 232 patients and only four members of staff attending to them.
Their living conditions could be compared to those of slaves at the Elmina or the Cape Coast Castle before their shipment abroad.
Dr Osei, however, said the last operation had been a success, adding that 21 patients had been sent back to their families, two inmates could not recognise their houses as a result of the vast development in their areas, while seven others were taken by their family members at the hospital.
The two patients who could not recognise their houses would be taken to the Department of Social Welfare to locate their family members, he noted.
He said community nurses in the respective communities had been tasked to regularly check on the patients.
Dr Osei said the exercise would help the patients to reintegrate into society, saying, “The longer they remain in the hospital, the more difficult it becomes for them to reintegrate into society.”
He said similar exercises the hospital had embarked on in the past involving 90 cured inmates had been successful except for three patients, one of whom could not trace his family.
“Not all patients will be accepted by their relatives because of stigmatisation but at least a chunk of them will be sent home to their relatives and this will decongest the hospital,” he stated.

Nima to get clean water

Story: Fauziatu Adam
THE sod has been cut for work to begin on a community water supply system for Nima.
The project, which is being financed by the Co-operative Housing Foundation (CHF) International and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), forms part of a three-year programme to provide five communities with potable water.
The project is expected to be completed by next year.
The $4.5-million project consists of the construction and mechanisation of a borehole, the construction of a pump house, the installation of two overhead storage tanks with two standpipes and multi taps and the construction of one Aqualite treatment plant.
The project is expected to be constructed by Olivatus Company Limited, a private construction company, and it is to provide potable water for the people of Nima, Avenor and Newtown in Accra.
 A similar project is to be undertaken in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis to supply water to Kojokrom and New Takoradi.
The Member of Parliament for East Ayawaso, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, who did the sod-cutting, underscored the importance of water to economic growth, development and, indeed, life.
He said the project could be seen as a very major step in fulfilling the dream of providing the beneficiary communities with adequate water.
He noted that in view of the reliance on streams, rivers and other unsafe sources of water, with the attendant adverse effects on health, the government increased support for the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to ensure safer water in rural areas and efficiency in urban water supply.
He said as a demonstration of that commitment, the CWSA received its highest budgetary allocation last year, while the five per cent various communities contributed to the total capital cost was abolished.
However, he said the regularity and quality of water supply was not guaranteed, especially in urban areas, due to frequent shortage and storage in unhygienic containers.
He, therefore, emphasised the need to set up a system to collect adequate data on water supply on a regular basis.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred  Vanderpuije, urged residents of Nima to seek assistance from CHF International for their toilet facilities, since the CHF was willing to assist to construct toilets for the community.
The Country Director of the CHF International, Mr Sandrine Capelle-Manuel, said the foundation initiated the WASH-UP programme to improve water supply and sanitation infrastructure and governance through innovative and sustainable development.
“USAID recognises that although urbanisation increasingly concentrates poverty, it also provides possibilities for escaping it,” he noted.
He added that urban communities continued to grow in Ghana and that had brought about the challenge of providing adequate water supply and basic sanitation services.

5,000 To benefit from maths, science scholarship scheme

FIVE thousand students from various second-cycle institutions will this academic year benefit from the Mathematics, Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme (MSTSS) initiated by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology.
The scheme is aimed at increasing the enrolment of students studying Mathematics, Science and Technology in various institutions across the country.
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, announced this at the official launch of a website for the Ghana Mathematics Society (GMS) in Accra yesterday.
She added that the ministry had established the Ghana Space Science and Technology Centre and the Implementation of African Square Kilometre Array Programme to encourage universities in the country to introduce Bachelor of Science programmes in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
She attributed the lack of interest in Mathematics among the youth to the notion that it was a difficult subject and the wrong methodologies that had turned many students away from Mathematics at a very tender age.
She called for a change of attitude towards Mathematics among the youth and urged teachers to adopt methodologies that would encourage and motivate students to like to study the subject.
"The subject can be made attractive to students when greater emphasis is laid on its applications through practical and analytical thinking," she added.
Mrs Ayittey assured the GMS of the ministry's support to promote Mathematics education in the country and Africa as a whole.
"As a ministry responsible for Environment, Science and Technology, we do recognise the importance of Mathematics in contributing towards the achievement of the better Ghana agenda, hence the need to encourage institutions such as the GMS to promote Mathematics in the country," she added.
The President of the GMS, Prof Sitsofe E. Anku, said the reason many students shied away from Mathematics was the way it was taught and not the subject itself.
"Mathematics is doable, can be fun and loveable. That is why we at the GMS are on a mission to revamp Mathematics education in Ghana by rekindling interest in the subject to the extent that students show a natural love for Mathematics," he said.

SAD CASE OF CURED MENTAL PATIENTS.

FRONT PAGE STORY (DAILY GRAPHIC)
 Story: Fauziatu Adam
SIX hundred inmates of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital who have been cured of their mental illnesses are to face forced ejection from the hospital next week.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, said the 600 inmates had all been declared fully recovered and discharged from the hospital but they had refused to leave and make way for other patients.
Consequently, the hospital has declared a special exercise, dubbed ‘Operation 600 Patients Home’, under which patients who have long recovered but refused to go home will be forcibly sent to their families.
The Accra Psychiatric Hospital was built in 1906. It has capacity for 800 patients but currently houses 1,200 inmates, including the 600 who have been declared cured.
The chief psychiatrist was emphatic that the exercise would be sustained over the next six months to create space for the hundreds of patients, some wandering the streets of the city, who were unable to conveniently access mental health care at the facility as a result of the current congestion there.
“Those patients who have been fully cured of their ailments and are eating and living on our premises will be sent home, wherever they come from,” he stressed.
Dr Osei told the Daily Graphic that the exercise would pave way for an in-house patient system, adding that the hospital would consequently encourage community health care that would enable patients to be closer to their families and feel a part of society.
“The stigmatisation of mental patients is one problem that the public must try to avoid, since it does not help the patients to recover and, as happened in Tema recently, this can cause the death of patients,” he stressed.
On the passage of the Mental Health Bill, Dr Osei said the Ministry of Health would meet the Parliamentary Committee on Health to discuss issues concerning the bill.
He called on the government to put in the needed logistics and resources to enable the staff of psychiatric hospitals in the country to work efficiently, adding that if that was done, the youth in particular would find interest in applying to study at their training schools and subsequently work with them.
On Thursday, April 1, 2010, President John Evans Atta Mills paid a surprise visit to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and assured the medical staff and the patients there that the government would improve upon the procurement of medicines and other facilities for better care of mental patients.

Minority critcises government on fuel prices

 FRONT PAGE STORY (DAILY GRAPHIC)
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah & Fauziatu Adam
THE Minority in Parliament has chastised the government for failing to keep its 2008 campaign promise and its manifesto declaration of “drastically” reducing petroleum prices if voted into power.
Reacting to the recent hikes in the prices of petroleum products, the Minority reminded Ghanaians that the NDC had cumulatively increased the prices of petroleum products by 70 per cent since it assumed office, even though the global price of crude oil had not risen more than 50 per cent.
Addressing  a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Mr Joseph Kofi Addah, said the NDC had, over the past two years, not demonstrated to Ghanaians that it had ideas to help the growth of the country.
He compared the situation now to the past administration and explained that former President John Agyekum Kufuor had resolved to pass on any further price increases to consumers if the world price of crude oil were to go beyond $120 per barrel.
“Today, with the world price of oil only in the $80 per barrel range, the NDC administration is quick to point to global increases in petroleum prices as one of the reasons for this increase,” he stated.
Touching on hedging, Mr Addah said by October 2010 the NDC government had said it had dealt with the problems concerning crude oil purchases to protect Ghanaians from increases in the global price of crude oil.
“As we speak, however, we do not know how Ghana has fared in the venture. If Ghanaians were, indeed, protected against any further price increases through this hedging, then why are we soon having to pay higher prices because of global price increases when, indeed, such has not been near 30 per cent?” he questioned.
He said into the third year of the NDC administration, Ghanaians could not see any creative policy initiative that sought to add value to what had been left by the NPP administration.
He explained that the NDC, on the one hand, had continued the policies and programmes of the NPP, while, on the other, it had worsened the situation of hardships rooted in high taxes and increased prices of commodities such as petroleum products, as well as vital services such as utilities.
On issues concerning the TOR debt, Mr Addah charged the government to account accurately to Ghanaians.
He said the government gave eight conflicting figures on the TOR debt in 2009 and 2010, explaining that that was inefficiency on the part of the government to get the right figure to justify the TOR debt.
He recalled the open attacks on the NPP administration by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) when petroleum prices were increased and accused the CJA of siding with the government because of its silence over the recent increase in petroleum prices.
Mr Addah urged Ghanaians not to allow themselves to be deceived again when the time came for them to decide on who they wanted to govern the country.

MY 2010

Well,well! Recollecting what happened in 2010 might be difficult or might not be at all. 2010 started on a very good note.
The year started a little bit dull for me. I travelled to the Eastern Region with my friends on Campus and spent the night there. The second semester in the second year started with hiccups in class and in my love life.
Love really frowned on me in the early months of the year. Still, during those months, I had the worst skin disease I could ever imagine on my body. Crowded with my project work to complete my course on GIJ, I had to take care of the nemesis on my skin which made me shy away from public.
I must confess, that was the worst moments of my life. Early 2010 was hell. Now the first quarter of the year ended with the quest to have my beautiful skin back and the quest to excel in my academic work.
In fact, Love has not been fair to me this year. The second quarter of the year was a sad one for me. My loved one eventually lost his dad at the time I was struggling to complete my  course and my project work on campus.
I agree I was not supportive at all. Moreover I did not even accept any love from anyone. You might think I am not that caring but I really I did not even have time for myself.
With the hope of starting the third and last quarter of the year with bliss and glamour, I was  faced with some other things. National Service!!!!
The ability to serve your nation with little allowance. Some call it national suffering but I have not thought of a name yet  for it. But manybe you might suggest a name for me! Many things really happened that are better left untold.
Remember, they say, curiosity killed the cat and I don’t want to lose any of my favourite and curious readers to the icy hands of death.
Well the last quarter came with work, work, work. Less time to hangout with friends and less time to watch television. This was the trying time for me. With temptations here and there, and the zeal to excel in the field I find myself, I tell you guys, it has not been a piece of sweet cake for me.
 With many marriage proposals knocking on my door, and a kind of serious and a big woman lifestyle, I guess I couldn’t ask for more. I jus tried my possible best to be the best that I can be.
Making of new friends and learning of new  things in the field of journalism has been fun and very very hectic. I must confess, I chased soli small. Ha ha ha. That is just by the way. Only those in journalism would understand what I am talking about.
What do I hope for next year? I think, it takes a good planner to figure out what would happen to moi next year. Do not guy, I will release my new year resolution in January. But for now I am gonna catch some fun for the ending of the year.
And to all those who have made my year fun, I say Ayeekoo. And to the enemies I have made, that is, if I have made some, May Allah bless y’all. To those I have offended, please forgive me. I am human and bound to make mistakes and even bound to offend people. I know I am even offending you right now but please forgive me anyway.
And to those I have rejected their marriage proposals and am about to reject them, please! Allah has already destined your future wives to you who are a thousand and one times better than me and Allah alone knows best for us all.
WELL HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYZ. Till we meet again next time. SALAAM!

Charlitex launches new ways of sending faxes

Story: Fauziatu Adam

An  Information Communication and  Technology (ICT) firm, Charlitex Investment Ltd has launched a new innovative way of sending documents electronically.
 Speaking at the launch, the Member of Parliament for Upper Manya Krobo, Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao called on Ghanaians to embrace ICT  as it ensures speedy and efficient delivery of businesses.
“ICT is dynamic and as it changes, Ghanaians should adapt with it, since it leads to the rapid development of the country.
The product enables users to send and receive fax messages through e-mail and prints it directly.
 The Fax 2 E-mail requires just the e-mail address and the fax number of the company who wants to access it to be able operate the fax system.
The Managing Director of the firm, Mr Charles Asante said that “we as a company have realised that it was time wasting to send and receive fax messages, hence, the need to introduce the new product to the market to ensure an easy way of sending fax messages”.
He explained that Charlitex just requires the e-mail address and the fax number of the company for registration. This he added would enable them save that information in their server to be able to carry out the operation.
Other business units of Charlitex Investments includes Installing of Security systems in cars, arranging for holiday and educational trips among others.

GAEC to train personnel

 Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) is training personnel to help check the misuse of nuclear and radioactive materials.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is assisting in the development of the human resource base in nuclear security in the face of mounting acts of terrorism involving radioactive materials.
The Director General of GAEC, Professor E. H. K Akaho, who addressed a workshop on nuclear security, said the GAEC and the IAEA were determined to provide regional training opportunities for African countries.
Prof. Akaho said the IAEA global efforts at assisting countries to train the needed human resources to assist in combating malicious acts involving nuclear and radioactive materials were yielding results.
He said with the assistance of the IAEA, the commission undertook a number of security related training workshops which benefited a lot of Ghanaians.
The Deputy Chief of Staff at the office of the President, Mr Alex Segbefia, who read a speech on behalf of the government of Ghana assured the GAEC and the IAEA of the government’s support for the workshop.
 He expressed his appreciation to stakeholder institutions and government agencies, including  the nuclear security committee for teaming up with the GAEC to combat acts involving radioactive materials.
Mr Segbefia urged participants to pay serious attention and participate fully in the proceedings so that they could go back to their countries or institutions and achieve the set goals of nuclear security.

ILO convention to promote decent work

Story: Fauziatu Adam

THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) is working on a convention to promote decent work for domestic workers.
The Head of the Organisation Department of the Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC), Togbe Adom Drayi II, who made this known at the advocacy workshop on the social protection for domestic workers, said the convention was to address the numerous decent work deficit associated with domestic work.
He said the initiative was the best way to ensure that domestic workers throughout the country operated in a decent environment.
A number of the ILO Conventions adopted in the past have excluded domestic workers from their coverage and the national labour laws of many member states also exclude domestic workers.
Although domestic workers fulfil an important need in virtually every country, they are not fully recognised as workers who are entitled to respect and the protection of the law. They are also among the most vulnerable, abused and lowest paid workers in many countries.
Togbe Drayi classified domestic workers as trained or untrained workers, including caregivers, gardeners, drivers who work within the households, cooks and cleaners, and indicated that over the years domestic workers had been subjected to abuse and some negative treatment.
He noted that institutions such as Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) and some trade unions in the country had, over the years, directed their attention towards the plight of this category of workers through legislative advocacy programmes.
He consequently called on the government to partner the social partners to utilise the opportunity to contribute towards the development of an international standard for the regulation of domestic work.
Togbe Drayi expressed his appreciation to the TUC and Global Network Africa for their support and initiative in advocating for social protection for domestic workers.
 

Japan donates to flood victims

Story: Fauziatu Adam

THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has received items worth US$160,000 from the Japanese Government to provide some relief for displaced persons who suffered from the flood disaster early this year.
The items included 2,250 pieces of blankets, 60 pieces of plastic chairs, 1404 pieces of portable jerry cans and 10 pieces of water purifiers.
The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Keiichi Katakami, who made the presentation, said his country was moved by the news that about 350,000 people had been affected by the flood disaster this year.
He said the Government of Japan was going to approve $8 million for the provision of 29 other items such as water pumps, generators, emergency trucks, forklifts, bulldozers, and air compressors for disaster relief in Ghana.
He further said that they had procured 100, 000 bags worth of maize from their counter-value fund to help affected persons, especially women and children, in the various regions of the country.
The Deputy Minister for Interior, Dr Kwesi Akyem Apea-Kubi, who received the items on behalf of the government, expressed his appreciation to the Government of Japan and gave the assurance that the items would be distributed to the affected victims nation-wide.
                                           

Christian Council launches anti-malaria campaign

Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Christian Council of Ghana has launched a malaria campaign to help reduce the spread of malaria in the country.
The project aims at educating people in remote areas on how to avoid getting malaria.
The programme officer of National Malaria Control Programme ( NMCP), Mr James Frimpong, called on government, religious groups and non-governmental organisations to build and sustain partnership in order to achieve the desired goals.
“To facilitate the achievement of the desired results, the strategic plan stresses on the need to build and sustain partnership amongst all the organisation in the country” he stressed.
He further mentioned that the Artemisinine-based Combination Therapies recommends Artesunate-Amodiaquine, Artemether-Lumefantrine and Dihydroartemisinine-Piperaquine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria, stressing on the fact that chloroquine was no more effective for the treatment of malaria parasite.
He added that the country’s strategic approach to malaria control gives  prominence to the human and material resources in the country that can be mobilised for effective action against malaria.
He, therefore, mentioned that this strategic approach is inspired by the Roll Back Malaria Initiative  and technical and financial support form development partners.
He assured the council of its support within the confines of its mandates to ensure that the campaign attains the set objectives.
The Project Manager of USAID, Lisa Kramer, advised Ghanaians to use mosquito nets anytime they are going to bed which she explained will help reduce malaria in the country.
She urged all communities in the country to unite and clean their environment regularly adding that “ mosquitoes breed malaria”.
The Deputy Chief of Party for ProMPT Ghana, Miss Christie Billingley, called on Ghanaians to be proactive and vigilant in the fight against malaria because it is treatable and preventable.

Pass Mental Health Bill now — Chief Psychiatrist

Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Akwesi Osei, has made another strong appeal for the passage of the Mental Health Bill (MHB) by the first quarter of next year to help ease the suffering of mental patients in the country.
He said some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and sympathisers of psychiatric hospitals in the country had threatened to demonstrate if the bill was not passed at the given time.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at the annual end-of-year celebration, Dr Osei said the MHB had been in existence for over four years but it had been sidelined by governments.
He indicated that most mental health institutions in the country, especially the Accra Psychiatric Hospital would collapse if the bill was not passed and implemented soon.
He explained that the bill entailed the decentralisation of the mental hospitals and a system where there would be more mental clinics across the country and easy access to mental treatment across the country.
“Mental treatment would also be moved from hospital care to community care for patients to feel a part of the community than to be caged in hospitals”, he added.
He mentioned that currently, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital had about 1,200 patients,  about 600 of which were fit to go home, but half of that number had been abandoned by their relatives for more than 30 years.
Dr Osei said the psychiatric hospital lacked resources in terms of human, financial, drugs, among others, making it difficult for the hospital to attend to patients promptly.
He added that for close to seven years, the hospital had been owing its food, drugs,  uniforms and  suppliers of other resources due to lack of funds.
He said if the bill was passed and implemented, it would reduce, if not remove entirely, the challenges facing psychiatric hospitals in the country.
 He observed that there was still stigmatisation and lack of understanding of mental illnesses in the country which made the treatment of mental cases very difficult.
He, therefore, appealed to the general public to do away with their perception of  mental illness and urge authorities to pass the bill soon.
The celebration was also meant to relieve staff of their hectic duties after attending to mental patients under very demanding conditions, fete mental patients and award 30 retirees of the hospital who had served tirelessly and retired honourably over the years. They were given 21-inch coloured televisions.

NSS Maize To Feed Ashanti Schools

 FRONT PAGE STORY (DAILY GRAPHIC)
Story: Fauziatu Adam
The National Service Secretariat (NSS) is to sell 4,000 bags of maize at reasonable prices from its farms at Ejura in the Ashanti Region to government-assisted Senior High Schools in the region.
The move is to assist the schools to feed their students at relatively low cost during the second term which begins in January 2011.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Executive Director of the NSS, Mr Vincent Kuagbenu,  said the secretariat had received a request from the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary schools (CHASS) to assist the heads to feed the students, adding that he saw that as a major boost and at the same time a big challenge to the farming component of the service scheme.
He explained that CHASS had also supported the secretariat by transporting service persons to and from the farm free of charge, hence the quick response to the request by the conference.
“Since this is in line with the government’s policy to farm to feed students, we have seriously considered the request,”  he added.
Mr Kuagbenu said currently the secretariat had harvested more than 4,000 bags of maize on its farm at Ejura, while 5,000 acres of land cultivated with maize was yet to be harvested to provide additional food supplies.
About 3,000 service persons have been recruited to work on the farms periodically.
Mr Kuagbenu expressed the hope that the secretariat would expand to the Eastern, Central and Brong Ahafo regions in the next farming season.

Muslims advised to educate their children

Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Spiritual Leader of the Tijaniyya Muslim Movement in Ghana, Sheikh Halifa Abdul Faidi, has called on parents in the Muslim communities to invest in the education  of their children since education was the key to the socio-economic development of the country.
Sheikh Faidi made this call at the launch of the birthday of Sheikh Ahmed Tijani in Accra.
He said that education was a fundamental human right which provided both the young and old the power to reflect on their lives and make better choices for their own development.
He stressed the need to invest more in education and promote the development of the country.
Sheikh Faidi further advised the youth to respect their community leaders, especially the Sheikhs.
He said the birthday celebration was  scheduled to take place from January 13 to 16, 2011. Other activities of the celebrations include honouring prominent personalities in the country, journalists, media houses and institutions that had excelled in their endeavours.

Engen Ghana introduces two fuels

Story: Fauziatu Adam


THE Engen Ghana Limited has unveiled two new different fuels in the market called the Dynamic Diesel for diesel cars and the Dynamic Unleaded for petrol cars.
The dynamic fuels improve fuel consumption system with the potential to reduce fuel consumption and ultimately increase the lifespan of the vehicles and reduce exhaust emissions.
The Managing Director of Engen Ghana Limited, Mr Henry Akwaboah, made this known at the commissioning of a new filling station at Asamankese in the Eastern Region.
Mr Akwaboah said the company’s quest was to offer its customers value for their money and meet their challenging needs.
“We pride ourselves with service dynamism, service quality, value for money, good customer service and above all, the highest standards in health, safety and high quality product,” he added.
He assured the people of Asamankese of their value for money, cleaner fuel and above all environmentally friendly products.
Mr Akwaboah advised the workers  of the station to be proactive in all their services and  to give their customers value for their money.
The District Chief Executive of Asamankese, Mr Seth Okyere, on behalf of the people of the area, expressed appreciation  for the company for making the project a reality.
He cautioned filling station personnel not to favour commercial vehicles against private vehicles as that practice had the tendency to collapse the business.
He further advised the workers to desist from defrauding customers by short-changing them.
Mr Okyere also caution drivers to drive carefully to reduce road fatalities.
The filling station is equipped with modern filling pumps, a shopping centre, 15 guest rooms and a mini bar to entertain visitors who come on visit.