Tamale, July 1, GNA - Several people in Nakpanduri in the Bunkprugu/Yuoyoo District of the Northern Region, have developed swollen and hard stomachs, the cause of which is not medically known. Some of the affected persons believed that the phenomenon was due to a tortoise lying in their stomachs. They have therefore made incisions on their stomachs and applied herbal preparations on the affected spots as a form of treatment.

Mr Paul Owusu Donkor, a Media Relations Officer of the Ghana Pharmaceutical Students' Association (GPSA), made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Saturday. Mr Donkor was explaining some of the medical findings he and his team discovered, when they visited seven out of 16 districts in the region.

Some 165 students of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, were on a week's study tour of the region to explain to the people the rational use of drugs and medicines.

They also educated the communities they visited on safe water practices, including the use of filters and boiling of water to avoid contracting the guinea worm and other waterborne diseases. Mr Donkor said a boy, who had been afflicted with the strange disease for 10 years, had been sent to the Tamale Teaching Hospital for a case study.

He said the team had also discovered that several people in the area were adding antibiotics to alcoholic drinks for the treatment of stomach diseases.

Some of the people said chemical sellers had advised them to mix antibiotic in alcoholic drinks to treat their stomach diseases. Mr Donkor said at Kumbungu in the Tolon/Kumbungu District, some of the inhabitants were using dettol as a form of injection to cleanse their stomachs, while at Walewale, some chemical sellers were selling expired drugs.

He said the students noticed that, majority of the health facilities in the region lacked qualified pharmacists. The GPSA appealed to the Food and Drugs Board to regularize its operations in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions to ensure that drugs and other consumables were safe for human consumption. He said the team had documented their findings and briefed the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr Issah Ketekewu on the findings. Meanwhile, the GPSA had donated anti-malarial and deworming drugs and painkillers to the Tamale West Hospital.