Sunyani, May 4, GNA - Malaria has been identified as the highest of th= e ten reported cases at Out Patient Department (OPD) at various hospital in the country. Dr. Jacob Abebrese, Medical Director in charge of the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani, who announced this, said that the aged, pregnant women and children less than five years were most affected by the disease. The Medical Director, in an interview with GNA in Sunyani, advised tha= t the aged, pregnant women and children should sleep in treated mosquito nets= , since they have low immunity and have the high risk of acquiring malaria when bitten by mosquitoes.

Dr Abebrese explained that children whose mothers had frequent malaria during pregnancy risked getting malaria easily after birth. He stated that the Regional Hospital last year, recorded 14,241 malari= a cases out of a total number of 60,400 diseases followed by acute eye infection cases of 6,963 and 4,864 acute ear infection. The rest of the diseases recorded at the hospital were 4,146 cases of diarrhoea, 3,018 cases of respiratory tract infection, 2,543 cases of rheumatism and joint pain, 2,414 cases of hypertension, 2,212 cases of Gynaecological conditions, 1,637 skin diseases and 1,567 cases of home occupational accident. Dr Abebrese asked the people to report malaria cases early at the hospital and not to wait till their condition worsen and to practice sound hygiene, eat balanced food, drink a lot of water and exercise the body to live healthy.

He advised Ghanaians to register with the National Health Insurance Scheme to enable them to enjoy better health care delivery. Dr Abebrese lamented that last year, 27 patients absconded from the hospital and many others had their medical bills waived on social grounds leaving the health institution with huge debt.