KEEP ENVIRONMENT CLEAN — DR BOATENG (PAGE 36)

THE Medical Superintendent of the Tepa Government Hospital, Dr Akuamoah Boateng, has called on residents of the Ahafo Ano North District to keep their environment clean to help reduce the incidence of malaria.
He said the disease had become a major health problem looking at the way the cases were going up.
At the district health directorate's 2008 half-year performance review meeting at Tepa, Dr Boateng said malarial cases in the district increased from 8,136 in 2007 to the current figure of 11,864.
Dr Boateng said the total number of pregnancy-related complications also increased from 594 in 2007 to 742 in 2008 an increase of 25 per cent.
He mentioned some of the problems facing the hospital as inadequate staff, accommodation for staff and delays in reimbursing claims submitted to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The District Director of Health Services, Mrs Elizabeth Adentwi, who also addressed the meeting, said HIV/AIDS cases in the district had also gone up.
She said between January and June, 2008, the Tepa District Hospital recorded 65 HIV/AIDS cases as against 45 in 2007.
She warned that the cases could go up as people had accepted to visit the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centre to know their HIV/AIDS status.
Mrs Adentwi, therefore, advised the youth to abstain from unprotected sex while marriage couples should always remain faithful to their partners for them to avoid contracting the disease.
The District Chief Executive for the Ahafo Ano North, Mr Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, commended the health staff for their commitment to duty and urged them to keep it up.
He called on the management of the hospital to always settle cases among themselves amicably instead of taking the law into their hands.