As part of activities marking their week anniversary celebrations, the Physician Assistantship and Nursing students of the Presbyterian University College, Asante Akyem Agogo Campus has successfully ended a day medical outreach program.
About 520 people were screened and offered education on the importance of healthy living and were also given free First Aid. Those with severe cases were referred to the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital for further examination. Beneficiaries of the exercise were taken through hypertension, hepatitis B, malaria, diabetes, eye, body mass index, blood pressure, breast and dental screening.
The outreach programme which is held annually is aimed at providing free medical care and counseling for residents of deprived communities in the catchment area of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences of the University situated at Asante Akyem Agogo.
The communities which benefited from this year’s programme were Dukusen and Ananekrom which are about 12.5 and 7.5 km away from Agogo respectively.
The medical outreach programme was undertaken by a medical team comprising lecturers, Physician Assistants both alumni and continue students and student nurses from the university
The student leadership liaised with the chiefs and elders of the communities to mobilize the residents for the exercise.
In an interview with Newsmen, Stephen Sabah Ofoe, president of the Physician Assistant Student Association of Ghana, PUC, noted that issues relating to health were one of the communities’ major challenges and there was a need for people to periodically check their health status.
Dukusen community does not have any health post and because transportation to these villages is challenging, the residents trek about 5 km to Ananekrom before they can access a ‘CHIP compound’ health facility.
The Nursing students also embarked on blood donation exercise of which about 100 pint of blood were donated to the Presbyterian Hospital at Asante Akyem Agogo.
Stephen Sabah Ofoe disclosed that to the students, the exercise is a good opportunity to give back to the society they come from, and also extend services to the less privilege people who are not directly benefiting from the national kitty.
The beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to the University for the kind gesture extended to the communities. They also described it as the first health screening exercise they had ever witnessed in the Dukusen Community.
They told newsmen that issues relating to social amenities like portable water, electricity and proper sanitation were among the challenges facing their community and appealed to government to provide the communities with these needs.
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