Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - Nurses were on Thursday compelled to move from house to house to immunize children since their mothers were reluctant to go for the medication, Ms. Florence Boye, Principal Midwifery Superintendent at the La Mansaamo Kpee Community Health Centre said on Thursday.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS), the organizers of the immunization programme had asked mothers to come to centres with their kids to be immunized.

The nurses had to change their approach and had to move to households each morning to announce their presence or take the medication to residents who did not show up since the exercise begun on Wednesday and would end on Friday.

Ms. Boye briefing Dr Elias Sory, Director General of GHS and other officials of the Service who toured some selected centres at La to inspect progress of the exercise. The exercise is part of the 2007 Maternal and Child Health Campaign Week being organized by the Ministry of Health, GHS, UNICEF and other development partners.

Children aged 0 to 59 months are receiving vaccines, nursing mothers are having supplementary Vitamin A, whiles expectant mothers are also provided with coupons to collect free insecticide treated nets next month. As at 1330 hours when newsmen visited the La General Hospital 150 mothers and children had been attended to whiles 88 of them were recorded at Tse-Addo also at La. Teshie Tebebeano area attended to over 570 mothers and children, the figure would have been higher if there had not been a shortage in the medications, Madam Mary Odamtten, Senior Midwifery Superintendent said. Dr Sory urged the general public to take advantage of the exercise to record tremendous improvement in health care during its review exercise. "All mothers should see this exercise as a gift as part of the Ghana @ 50 celebrations and should go in for the medication", Dr Kojo Odai Antwi Agyei, Manager for the Expanded Programme for Immunization added.