Political Activists Urged to Quit Politicizing Health Issues

The Eastern Regional Health Directorate, Rev. Richard Yeboah has urged political activists to stay out of health issues as their involvement could be detrimental to health delivery.

He explained that party activists make statements which often do not represent the stance of health workers and urged that people be wary of such activists.

He made this statement at a stakeholders sensitisation workshop at Koforidua on the new approach to the distribution of bednets for malaria prevention in the country.

Rev. Yeboah also stated that under the new bed-net distribution strategy, 90 percent of all households in the districts were expected to be registered and about 80 percent of the figure were expected to collect and sleep in them.

He said beneficiaries would have to hang it in the shade for 48 hours at least before sleeping in it and it could be washed when it was dirty and dried in a shade and explained that even if the net was hanged in the bedroom, it helped to reduce mosquito contact because any mosquito that got into contact with the net would die.

Dr Antobre Boateng, the Acting Eastern Regional Director of Health Services said, it was not the first time that bed-nets were being distributed in the country, but the difference was that the new strategy targeted and involved registration of the beneficiaries and appealed to the stakeholders to help create the needed awareness for the success of the project.

Ms Bridget Anim, Eastern Regional Health Promotion Office appealed to people who might be  travelling during the Easter festivities to arrange for others to collect their bed-nets for them  or arrange to return early to collect it themselves.

Registration exercise for mass distribution of bed-nets in Eastern and Volta Regions are to start from March 22 to 28.

Heads of households who would be registered would be provided with coded registration cards for the collection of their bed-nets from designated places in their district.

The issuing of the bed-nets at the designated centres would be organised from 4th to 10th April when the heads of the household would be required to present the registration coded cards for their bednets.

Source: GNA