Kpadjai (N/R), Feb. 17, GNA - The Ghana Branch of the Grace Baptist Mission, an international Christian evangelisation NGO and its counterpart, Shalom Indigenous Foundation of USA, on Tuesday provided free medical care to 200 inhabitants of Kpadjai in the East Gonja District.

Representatives of the two NGOs treated ailments such as malaria, worm infestation, river blindness, high blood pressure, skin diseases and dehydration to mark the adoption and inauguration of a clinic at Kpadjai.

Grace Baptist Mission is involved in the training of pastors, organizing youth camps and youth ministry, as well as farming activities and the provision of health facilities.

The Reverend Noah Quarshie, Director of Grace Baptist Mission, said the provision of the clinic was to help reduce the burden of the sick, who had had to travel over long distances to Salaga to seek medical attention.

He told the people to discard the belief by some churches that the sick should always kneel down and pray to God for recovery without visiting any health facility. "It is true that God heals spiritually but it is also the same God who created herbs and doctors".

He therefore, advised the sick to always visit health facilities, adding that it was irresponsible to only pray and refuse to see the doctor.

Rev. Quarshie advised the people in the area to drink a lot of water always to reduce the incidence of dehydration since they live in one of the hottest regions in the country.

They should also wear shoes and boots to prevent being bitten by snakes, which he said, abound in the area.

The Chief of Kpadjai, Nana Kru Wie II, thanked the NGOs for their gesture and said the provision of the clinic would help improved the health status of the people to enable them to increase their economic activities.

Nana Wie appealed to the Mission to assist the clinic with materials and personnel to enable it to deliver quality healthcare to the people.

The East Gonja District Chief Executive, Mr Bismark Haruna, thanked the NGOs for coming to complement the government's efforts at providing health facilities to rural communities.

He said it was the commitment of the government to provide education, water, sanitation and health facilities in rural communities and called on other churches, NGOs, and benevolent organisations to help provide some of these facilities to the rural people to improve their living standards.