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Public health officers must be compassionate in caring for the sick
Professor Stephen Alder, the President of Ensign Global College at Kpong, has urged public health officers to be compassionate when caring for the sick.
Prof. Alder, who was addressing the college’s 10th anniversary and ninth graduation ceremony, said, “We have to remember that these are human beings that are being affected by these issues, and we have to be compassionate in our care and protection for their health as well.”
The programme which saw 28 public health students graduating, was on the theme “Celebrating a Decade of Educating Professional and Entrepreneurial Leaders for Prosperity.”
He said public health was a big field that covered so many areas of human lives, including the cholera outbreak, counterfeit medications and expired food consumption.
“We have watched with concern as cases of cholera have been detected in Ghana. We’ve watched and seen the issues related to not only expired food but counterfeit medications, all sorts of things that are going to undermine efforts to keep people healthy and well.”
He said when these issues were seen, it meant that something had slipped through, and they had to figure out why it occurred and correct that for the future.
Prof. Alder said to ensure that public health practitioners provided professional care to the public, the private-owned health training college was committed to working the training of highly competent professionals, who were going to protect the public’s health, help with the regulatory bodies, and the health system.
Dr Lynette Gay, the Founder and Board Chairman of Ensign Global College, said she identified that there was need for a change in the health of the community, home, and families, as good health began from the home.
She said it was this awareness that informed the establishment of the college to train professionals to provide effective care and protection right from the family, stressing that “We hate to see people go to the hospitals at the last resort if they can address their health needs within their own knowledge in their home.”
She encouraged the public health officials to have community involvement, go beyond their imagination, and not to stop themselves from impacting positively on the health of the communities.
Ensign Global College was established in 2014 by Dr Mrs Lynette Gay, and Mr Bob Gay in fulfilment of their desire and passion to transform public health education in West Africa with the aim of improving the quality of life among West Africans through scholarship for a robust healthcare system.
The family of Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, a distinguished statesman and diplomat, has paid a courtesy call on President John Dramani Mahama. They officially informed him of his passing.
The delegation, representing the Gbeho family, noted that it was culturally and diplomatically important to formally notify the President of the loss before making a public announcement of his death.
Ambassador Gbeho was a towering figure in Ghanaian and international politics. He served in many diplomatic missions, including New York. He was Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, a Member of Parliament for the Anlo constituency, and President (formerly Executive Secretary) of the ECOWAS Commission.
He was widely respected for his role in regional integration and his contributions to global diplomacy at the United Nations.
President Mahama expressed his condolences and shared reflections on Ambassador Gbeho’s contributions to the country, West Africa and the world.
Funeral details will be announced later.
The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has revoked all firearm permits in Ghana with immediate effect and announced a new registration process for all gun owners.
The minister made the announcement on Tuesday, June 23, at the information service department saying all individuals who currently hold licences to own firearms or sidearms must undergo a fresh registration process.
“From this afternoon, all permits that have been granted to any individual that you are holding a sidearm or firearm is hereby revoked,” Mr Muntaka said.
He explained that the government had identified gaps in the country’s firearm registration system and needed to introduce stricter measures to improve public safety.
“We are opening the window where everyone will have to come forward again to register or re-register the gun because we’ve changed the procedure,” he stated.
According to him, the government decided not to wait until the end of the year to make the changes because lives could still be saved within the next six months.
The Interior Minister said one of the new requirements would be mandatory mental health screening for applicants seeking firearm licences.
“We’ve seen that people with mental health have already gone through and have the sidearm. Now we are introducing mental health. Before we give you the sidearm, we have to be sure that you have the mental stability to hold the firearms,” he said.
Mr Muntaka also announced that applicants would be required to undergo drug tests before being granted licences.
“We’ve also realised that people who are on drugs are also holding their arms and they are legitimate because it’s been registered. Now you have to go through drug tests to be sure that you are not on drugs before you can hold sidearms,” he added.
The minister said the new measures form part of efforts by the government to tighten firearm control and prevent legally registered weapons from falling into the wrong hands.
He urged all firearm owners to cooperate with the new registration process once details of the exercise are announced.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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