Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - The Jubilee Oil Partnership at the weekend carried out a mass medical screening of inhabitants of the six coastal districts in the Western Region, in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service.

A statement issued in Accra on Monday said this was part of its Community Health Outreach Project, a major collaborative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative. The communities that benefited from the exercise spans Shama, Ahanta West, Nzema East, Ellembele, Jomoro Districts and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.

The statement said with funding to the tune of $150,000 from the Jubilee Partnership, the Regional Health Directorate had mobilised two big virtual mobile hospitals, each comprising a team of specialists to screen and offer treatment and medical advice. The medical team comprises physician specialists, ophthalmologists, Ears and Throat (ENT) specialists, optometrists, dentists, nurses and other medical support staff. At Shama, where the campaign was launched, Dr Toni Aubynn, Corporate Affairs Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, told patients that community healthcare ranked very high on the Jubilee Partnership's agenda for social investment. Dr Aubynn said the project had been structured to enhance community awareness about health and offer the Jubilee partners important insights into the peculiar health problems of the migrant fishing communities along Ghana's western coastline. The Shama District has a population of more than 175,000, a considerable proportion of which is engaged in fishing as a fulltime vocation. The Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Van Otoo, commended the Jubilee Partners for demonstrating a special commitment to the promotion of community healthcare. She said the Partnership's support for upgrading health infrastructure in the Region was an indication of good intentions and a readiness to partner the Ghana Health Service to deliver badly needed healthcare to the people.

Dr Paul Ntodi, Medical Director at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, said such large scale medical screening had become a very important medium of intervention for disease detection in vulnerable communities. He said the community medical screening would help medical authorities to evaluate the profile of community health problems and create awareness on prevailing health problems. The statement said over the past three months, the Partnership had stepped up action on its Community Health Outreach programme, which Jubilee CSR officials said, w as the most vital component of the social investment policy of the body.

Last September, the partners inaugurated experts from Jhpiego to evaluate and report on the status of all existing community and rural health delivery facilities in the six coastal districts. This focused specifically on the Ghana Health Service-operated Community-based Health Planning and Services Compounds. It said the Partnership was currently financing the completion of a new Accident and Emergency Ward for Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital. A couple of months ago it inaugurated the construction of a modern Maternity Ward for the Essikado Hospital. 29 Nov. 10