The members of the Rotary Club of Accra Ridge; as part of their mission to provide service to others, embarked on a two-day medical outreach to provide essential primary health care to the indigenes of Kotoso and surrounding communities of Anyinasi, Bonjrasi, Nkwantanie and Bumpatah in the Kwahu East District.
Over 1000 residents were seen and treated with medication over the two days. Some of the morbidity endemic to this community include malaria, diarrhoea diseases, intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, skin diseases and various eye conditions. Armed with drugs and medication sourced through sponsorship and donations, the medical team drawn from Accra and Kwahu treated as many as they could till the project ended on Saturday evening.
The District through the DCE Isaac Agyapong and the District Health Directorate supported by providing logistics and some medical personnel. The District Director of Health, Mr. Mutala Mohammed Abilene was extremely grateful for the assistance and support in providing essential health services to the impoverished communities.
Kotoso and the surrounding communities lie along the Afram Lake and the main economic activities are fishing, fish mongering, farming, and general trading.
President of the Rotary Club of Accra Ridge, Rotarian Yaw Arhin Mensah, in emphasizing the necessity of this exercise said; “it is important that we cater to the needs of those who may not be able to afford healthcare in these tough times. We were really blown away by the numbers, especially on the second day. Also, the cases we saw could break a heart, but thankfully with support from our sponsors, we had enough drugs and medication to treat as many as we could. We hope to be back and hopefully, more consistently. The gratitude from the community is so humbling and we would plan to come back again and again.”
The Assembly man for the area, James Dornu Tanihu said; “Thank you very much. This came at the right time, when standard of living is going up due to the country’s current economic situation. Prices of goods and services have gone up and some could barely afford three square meal a day. With some also not having the health insurance, it becomes difficult to attend hospital when they fall sick due to lack of money.”
Some of the sponsors who made it possible for the Club to provide the services for free include the Seth Acheampong, Minister for Eastern Region, Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), GOIL, Investeye Capital Partners, Alisa Hotel, Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Ernest Chemist, Add Pharma (Gh) Ltd., Biotic Pharmacy, Bedita Pharmacy, Kasapreko Co Ltd and some individuals.
The residents were very excited and happy for the gesture from the Club and wish they would come more frequently.
Rotary is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. Rotary is a non-political, non-religious humanitarian organization. Each Rotary club uses prudence in conducting its meetings in a manner that reflects Rotary’s principle of tolerance and emphasizes shared Rotarian service ideals and projects.
