Accra, July 26, GNA - Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Health, on Wednesday proposed that physical fitness and games be made compulsory in all educational institutions up to the tertiary level. He has also proposed that nutrition should be taught as a separate core subject at the Junior and Senior Secondary Schools to inculcate into the children the maintenance of healthy lifestyles in healthy environments.

Major Quashigah made the proposal at the launch in Accra of a book titled "Textbook for the Peri-Operative Nurse" aimed at ensuring quality service in operating theatres.

He expressed worry about the number of Ghanaians dying from preventable and avoidable diseases.

"The disease burden is unnecessarily retarding our socio-economic development and endangers the President's vision of attaining middle income status by the 2015.=94

He noted that the proposed paradigm shift in health would reduce the burden of diseases and provide quality and accessible health care to all Ghanaians.

He urged health professionals to abide by the philosophy of the oaths they undertook when they were first sworn into office, which stressed on service to humanity, professionalism with conscience and dignity, among other things.

Major Quashigah called for collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders to ensure better health care services for all. The book, which has 29 chapters, was co-authored by Dr Gladys Amponsah, Head of the Faculty of Anaesthesia, University of Ghana Medical School and Mrs Rebecca Nsaful, a retired Principal Nursing Officer of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

The textbook, the first to be written in Ghana, covered topics from the reception of patients into the theatre suit to the time the patient leaves the theatre. Other topics include safety in theatre, aseptic techniques, surgical instruments and other specialised equipment used in modern theatres and has illustrations to help the reader understand the text.

Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, a Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, said it was unfortunate that for so many years, the country had depended largely on textbooks from outside Africa, whose contents had no bearings on the local environment.

She challenged Ghanaian academicians to strive to write more books to catch up with the Nigerians, who were far ahead in this field. Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, who launched the book, reiterated the need for all to cultivate the habit of reading to acquire more knowledge and to share experience. He challenged health professionals, libraries and health institutions to have a copy of the book to teach and guide them on what went on in a theatre.

Major Quashigah bought the first copy of the book for 10 million cedis. The Authors stressed the need to train more peri-operative nurses to man the various government and quasi-government hospitals.