Zebilla (U/E), Feb. 4, GNA - The Zebilla hospital in the Bawku West district of the Upper East Region, last year spent more than 132 million cedis on free medical service for the aged, pregnant women and children under five years.

In all, the hospital had a total of 21,647 patients out of which 2,465 were admission cases, with 314 deliveries.

These were made known by the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr. William Gudu at an open forum in Zebilla to launch this year's health week celebration in the district.

Dr. Gudu said, as part of the Ghana Health Service's (GHS) policy to take health delivery closer to the people, the service has given the hospital anaesthetic and X'ray machines.

He thanked the hospital staff for supporting him to bring most diseases under control and advised them to take precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of cerebro-spinal meningitis (CSM) in the district this year.

The District Director of Health Services, Miss Evelyn Adda, said malaria cases ranked on top of the list of diseases in all health facilities in the district.

She said out of 38,000 patients seen last year, 10,128 were malaria-related. She said although antenatal coverage is high as 96 percent , supervised delivery is 58.4 percent.

She urged health personnel to advice pregnant women to patronise the health facilities since delivery in the hospitals are free. On HIV/AIDS, the director said the disease is on the increase. "From 44 cases in 2001, it went up to 48 in 2002 and last year the district hospital recorded 70 cases," she indicated, adding that the figure is only a tip of the iceberg since a lot of cases remain unreported.

Miss Adda appealed for office and residential accommodation for hospital staff, and more equipment and motobikes to render effective health service to the people.

Bawku West distict receives 240 million cedis for mutual health scheme.

Zebilla, Feb. 4, GNA - The Bawku West District of the Upper East Region, has received 240 million cedis to begin its mutual health insurance scheme.

The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Moses Abaare Appiah, announced this at a forum held in Zebilla on Tuesday to mark health service week in the district.

He said, apart from the amount the district assembly sets aside two percent of the poverty alleviation fund for securing the people's health needs and 100 million cedis for HIV/AIDS programme.

The DCE pledged the assembly's commitment to the improvement of health services in the district, saying it will do everything possible to improve the health status of the people.

Mr. Appiah said another health centre will be put up at Sapelle, while the district will take in more nurses. He added that health personnel should not regard the district as remote and deprived, but consider their posting there as a duty.

Mr. Appiah assured health workers in the area that the National Health Insurence Scheme (NHIS ) would succeed because it is being practised globally.

On the environment., Mr. Appiah said a lot of talking has been going on but that the sanitation problem still persisted because it is attitudinal. "Even though the campaign against the littering of polythene bags is going on, nobody seems to be listening." He said many animals die after eating the polythene thrown away, and that toilets built by the assembly are filled with stones and, therefore, called for a serious educational campaign for attitudinal change to save the situation.

Dr. Shitu Mahammed , a veterinary doctor in-charge of the district and chairman of the occasion, said there were a lot of animal diseases whose treatment are expensive for the ordinary man. He urged government to add veterinary drugs to the NHIS as part of health services to the people.