Electronic gadgets for district health directorates

Health News of Thursday, 17 October 2013

Source: graphic.com.gh

Three district health directorates have been presented with electronic gadgets to facilitate quick responses to health risk issues. The gadgets, valued at $98,900.00 include 72 smartphones, nine Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and 21 laptops, were donated by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) under the Ministry of Health (MoH) climate change programme to sensitise communities to the impact of environmental degradation activities on health systems in the three districts. The beneficiaries are the Keta, Bongo and Gomoa West district health directorates in the Volta, Upper East and Central regions respectively. The programme, which is being supervised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), would help Ghana develop a national strategy for mainstreaming climate change risks into health sector policies and measures. At a ceremony to hand over the gadgets to the districts, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said the provision of the gadgets would enable the communities to translate their data into understandable maps for easy referencing and accessibility. With the handsets, she said, health personnel working in remote health centres would be able to communicate with the district hospitals in times of difficulty and also provide advance information when patients were being referred. Health workers, she indicated, could also seek advice from their peers and the experienced ones outside their communities. She challenged the three districts to make efficient use of the gadgets. Ms Ayittey expressed gratitude to the the GEF and the UNDP for the support in ensuring that all co-ordinating mechanisms were in place. The Gomoa West District Director of Health Services, Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah, on behalf of the other district health directorates, thanked the ministry and the other partners for the immense support. He added that they would put the gadgets to good use.