The “ghosts” among men

cleft baby before and after

 They live next door but you can’t see them. They live in our homes but no one hears them. Indeed you may think of them as silent, invisible, but they are present in our households, coiled in humiliation and fear.

Being an African child born with facial and oral malformations is like living a life under a death sentence. An unknown number of children born with cleft lips and cleft palates in Ghana continue to be denied the right to live by their parents and families who kill them all in the name of tradition and avoiding stigma.

The few survivors face multiple-discrimination and are more vulnerable than any other person in the society. Through no fault of theirs, they are often referred to as ghosts due to the nasal sound they produce when speaking. Their desires for a happy life has been tattered. They live in depression and do not feel good about themselves.

Miss Comfort, after giving birth to Kwame had to fight the stigma associated with cleft. She could not even take Kwame out of the house and she was asked several times to abandon her baby-worst of all to starve him to death.
 

comfort and her baby

Ever thought of how it would feel being rejected by people you first met on earth? How would you feel being ostracized from a land where your umbilical cord was buried? A land where the DNA of your ancestors can be traced!!!

FDA TO SANCTION MEDIA OUTLETS THAT FLOUT ADVERTISMENT REGULATIONS

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has hinted that it will in partnership with the Security Agencies in the country embark on prosecution of media houses that violate advertisement regulations.

The FDA has observed that despite the lay down rules and regulations governing marketing of drugs and other food products in the country, some media outlets persistently fail to comply with the directives.  The Authority said, unapproved drugs and food products are being advertised by some media houses defying the directives of the authority.

VOLTA NDC KICKS AGAINST EBOLA VACCINE TRIAL IN HOHOE

The leadership of the National Democratic Congress in the Volta region is calling on the Ministry Of Health and other stakeholders to immediately call off an imminent Ebola Vaccine Human Experiment at an Ebola Research Centre in Hohoe in the Volta Region.

In the press statement the NDC Regional Executives have this described the exercise as unfortunate hence subjecting the people in the region to such an experiment is tantamount using them as “human guinea pigs’’.

GERMAN GRANDMOTHER, 65, GIVES BIRTH TO QUADRUPLETS

    Annegret Raunigk gave birth to three boys and one girl last week, RTL reports

    The single mother already had 13 children and seven grandchildren.

For many people, 13 children would be more than enough. But not for Annegret Raunigk. The 65-year-old German grandmother recently gave birth to quadruplets, making her the oldest woman ever to do so.

The new arrivals increase her progeny to a total of 17 children. And let's not forget her seven grandchildren.

Raunigk, a single mother, gave birth last week to three boys and one girl after a pregnancy of just under 26 weeks, the German broadcaster RTL reported.

ACCEPT SCHEDULE PAYMENT OF TAXES-PRIVATE HOSPITALS TELL SNNIT

Members of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners (SPMDP) in the Volta region have lamented that persistent power crises coupled with delays by NHIS authorities to reimburse funds to their facilities are crippling them to the extent that they unable to pay workers’ salaries  as well as redeem their social security obligations.

WE HAVE PAID ALL SERVICE PROVIDERS- VOLTA NHIA

The Volta Regional Directorate of the National Health Insurance Authority has cautioned health service providers in the region to desist from unduly passing on charges to NHIS subscribers visiting facilities.

In an exclusive interview with KINGNOBERT'S DIARIES, the Regional Public Relations Officer of the scheme Charles Agbesi said his attention was drawn to an unwarranted development at health facilities in the region where National Health Insurance subscribers visiting the facilities are being charged an “energy fund” to ostensibly bear the cost of energy consumption at the facilities. 

Lack of vehicles impede work of Volta blood bank

 

The lack of mobile blood vans at the Volta Regional Hospital according to Mr Vincent Fekpe the Blood Donation Organizer, is hindering blood donation drives in the region.
 

He lamented that although the blood bank needs a minimum of between 60 and 80 units of blood to respond to emergencies, the current volume of blood in stock is woefully inadequate.

He said the blood gathered from the community at emergency situations usually grows stale before arriving at the hospital because the vehicles being used do not have the necessary gadgets to keep the blood in its original state.

He called for the provision of well-equipped bloodmobiles to help effectively conduct blood drives at various communities in the region to stock the depleting blood bank.

Mr Vincent Fekpe made the appeal on the sidelines of a blood donation exercise organized by Brigade of Young Social Democrats (BOYSD); a subsidiary youth wing of the ruling National Democratic Congress.

The Regional Communication Director of the Group Etornam Ohene said the group moved by the situation at the blood bank mobilized the youths in the region to donate blood to save lives.

“We had the information that the Volta Regional Blood bank was running out of stock. And so we saw it appropriate to support in our little way,” he said.

He added that the donation was part of the group’s objectives to imbibe spirit of volunteerism in its members to support society.

In attendance were the Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Francis Ganyaglo,Mp for Ho Central, Benjamin Kpodo and other government officials.

The National Coordinator of BOYSD Anthony Selorm Morrison disclosed to citinews the group’s plans to institutionalize the donation drive as an annual exercise to help safeguard healthcare delivery in the region.

The Blood Donation Organizer at the hospital however commended the youth group for the spirit of volunteerism exhibited.

POLICE WOMEN IN VOLTA REGION UNDERGO BREAST SCREENING

The Volta Regional branch of the Police Ladies’ Association (POLAS) has organized a breast screening exercise for its members in Ho as part of the week-long activities marking the silver jubilee celebration of the Association.

Over 200 police women and police wives were taken through the screening in a virtual hospital environment installed at the Volta regional police headquarters on Thursday. Some of the women with defects were asked to report to the Volta regional hospital for further examination and treatment.

JAPAN PROVIDES CHIPS COMPOUND FOR AGORTOE

Some communities in the Keta Municipality that normally suffer from water-borne diseases due to the wet nature of the land would now be relieved of the challenge they encounter in visiting health facilities for treatment by and large accessing health care.

VOLTA REGIONAL HOSPITAL GIVES SMILES TO PEOPLE WITH CLEFT LIPS AND PALATE

A fourteen team of specialist doctors from various health facilities in the country has begun a week operation on people with cleft lips or palate at the Volta regional hospital on Monday March 31, 2014 in Ho. The specialist doctors are members of Ghana cleft foundation whose main task is to help address the problems associated with cleft lip and palate in Ghana through advocacy.

HO MUNICIPAL HEALTH DIERECTORATE UP IN ARMS WITH TB

Ho municipal health directorate has embarked on a campaign to raise tuberculosis case detection rate to at least 90% by end of this year. According to the Municipal Health Director, Dr Atsu Seake Kwawu last year they were able to detect 91 cases out of an expected 131 cases which was not encouraging to them. They have therefore decided to move all out in the fight against the curable disease.

NHIA CAPITATION TO KICK OFF IN THE VOLTA REGION.

A team of officials from National Health Insurance Authority yesterday paid a working visit to the Volta regional minister and his deputy to have a consultation meeting on the way forward in implementing the NHIS capitation provider payment mechanism which started as a pilot in Ashanti region.

Capitation is a provider payment method in which providers are paid, typically in advance, a pre-determined fixed rate to provide a defined set of services for each individual enrolled with the provider for a fixed period of time.

HO MUNICIPALITY HOLDS DURBAR TO COMMEMORATE WORLD AIDS DAY CELEBRATION

HIV patient

A durbar was held in the Ho on Friday to climax a week long event to commemorate the world aids day celebration. A program organized by the Volta regional branch of Ghana HIV and AIDS network (GHANET) and  with the collaboration with the ho municipal assembly, Ghana health service, Ghana education service and other stakeholders is aimed at creating awareness to the populace on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.