Features
Agenda 111: Potential impetus to health growth
A few days ago, the country witnessed a sod-cutting ceremony at Trede in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region to put up the construction of 111 regional and district hospitals to make Ghana emerge a country with excellent health facilities, the best in the sub-region of West Africa, to prove in practical terms that our lovely country is ready to let the world see how determined it is to lead the way to progress.
Of the 111 hospitals being constructed, 88 are district hospitals while the remaining 13 will represent regional hospitals with two others being specialised hospitals for psychiatric purposes for the Northern and Middle Belts.
In fact, this is the largest investment ever made in the medical history of Ghana since independence and having been carried out by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the country salutes this noble man for his vision and foresight.
On the face of it, many people will not see the health significance of this huge project and its relationship to economic growth in the country. It is, therefore, important for us to examine the relationship between this project and potential economic growth of the country.
MEANING OF HEALTH
Health does not necessarily refer to the absence of disease, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Indeed, the absence of diseases may be important but good health depends on that we find ourselves in a situation where people will be able to enjoy the peace to create activities that lead to socio-economic development in their lives and in the nation. This means that if people are hindered by obstacles that make it possible for them to promote development in their lives, the state of health cannot be said to be good.
There is no doubt that the state of health impacts economic growth in several ways. In the first place, when hospitals exist to cater for the health needs of the people, it makes them healthy and strong to increase productivity. Good health, due to productivity of hospitals, reduces illness on the part of people and enables them to get better nutrition following the guidance given them by the hospitals through quality medical care. This helps to lower absenteeism on the part of workers.
Apart from this, it helps to improve the state of absenteeism on the part of school children, leading to better learning and stronger population. Again, the absence of enough hospitals often leads to increasing illnesses that cannot be easily addressed due to the absence of medical facilities. As a result, efforts are made in form of alternative financial investments for the treatment of the sick population.
ENOUGH HOSPITALS
The availability of enough hospitals in the districts and regions would have made it possible for such investments or financial resources to have been used for alternative projects that could have stimulated a higher rate of socio-economic development. Thus, the 88 district hospitals under construction together with the other 13 regional hospitals including those for psychiatric purposes are meant to promote socio-economic development directly and indirectly in the country.
By implications, therefore, the state of health in a country affects economic growth through productivity of labour. When people fall sick and cannot be treated by reliable medical facilities, it means that the economic burden of illnesses will thwart every effort being made for greater productivity as well as general growth in the economy. If, for example, the health of children is negative due to frequent illnesses in areas without health facilities, the burden of child health will affect the future income of people through the impact health has on education.
Here, the children will not be able to go to school regularly and the financial burden incurred by parents will adversely affect the trend of education in the country. If the trend of education is affected in this way, what it means is that the quality of population produced for the future will not be able to live up to expectation in terms of excellent labour force and high productivity.
INDIRECT IMPACT
This indirect impact is easier to understand if it is observed at the family level. By way of illustration, if a family is healthy, both the mother and father can concentrate on their jobs and earn some money which will allow them to feed and protect the family. In the same way, it will empower them to send their children to school. Ultimately, therefore, healthy and well-nourished children will be able to perform better in school. As these children perform better in school, they will be able to prepare themselves positively for higher or better income in future.
What this means is that if parents can envisage that their children have a high probability of reaching adulthood, they will give birth to fewer children and be able to invest more in terms of time and effort in their health and education.The point being made is that when families suffer from poor health leading to loss of children through death, they decide to have many children so that after a few deaths, some of the children can remain as human assets for their parents.
It is for this reason that in the past, in many farming areas, many parents gave birth to many children so that after a few deaths some of them would be available to help them on their farms. This means that there is a link between availability of medical facilities and the social norms and values of societies. Thus, the construction of the 111 regional and district hospitals, thanks to President Akufo-Addo and his administration, has a huge positive implication for the country’s socio-economic development and should, therefore, not be taken for granted. In other words, families with good health will not necessarily have to bring forth many children and the few children brought forth will not place huge economic burden on the state, thereby accelerating the rate of socio-economic growth.
88 HOSPITALS AND MORE
It is good that the construction of the 88 district hospitals has begun with the sod-cutting by the President a few days back. Indeed, the construction of the regional hospitals, like the district hospitals, is also dependent on the availability of suitable land for that purpose and their construction will begin towards the end of the year as indicated by President Akufo-Addo. The good news is that each hospital will be a modern state-of-the-art single-storey health centre, featuring patient reception and processing area, administration, pharmacy, laboratories/diagnostics, physiotherapy, public health, accident, and emergency facilities.
BIGGEST HEALTH INVESTMENT
As already indicated, this would be the biggest investment in health care in the country and for this reason, they should be monitored on continuous basis by the districts through the District and Metropolitan Chief Executives, whether already on the job or will be in-coming new executives. The regional hospitals, when they also begin later, should be closely monitored by Regional Ministers so that regular accounts on progress of work can be given to Ghanaians who happen to be the chief stakeholders in this enterprise.
President Akufo-Addo and his administration mean business so the entire nation must give them, but not listen to desperate propagandists in the country, the support needed to propel Ghana to a higher pedestal of socio-economic development.
Contact email/WhatsApp of author:
Pradmat2013@gmail.com (0553318911)
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Features
The Cop, press and lost fingers
The job of a policeman, whether he is short or tall, is not a cheap one. He is supposed to keep the peace, protect society and monitor the activities of local magicians and money doublers who are specialists in making civil servants lose their pay within seconds.
By far the most difficult job of the policeman is when he is expected to arrest a murderer who is not only armed but also has a record of appearing and disappearing at will. Even if the tough cop is in the company of other policemen all armed to the teeth, his stomach will turn to water when the criminal suddenly appears.
He is terrified not because the criminal is a better marksman, but because nobody dies twice. The problem also is that a criminal might be prepared to die in a bid to shoot his way to freedom. But is the police-man prepared to risk death in the course of duty when he has a family to rear.
If he had just acquired a new girlfriend with whom he is enjoying life, should he not run away with his tail between his legs and tell his boss that the criminal is uncatchable?
Before some policemen go on patrol duties, they actually pray solemnly. “God send me into the wilderness and bring me back safely with my nose intact because I’m worth more than a common rat. I also do not want to die like a stray dog. If a bullet is targeted at my forehead, Holy Spirit please let it go over the bar, because six children is not a small palaver. If I die, who will look after them? Lord keep me safe day by day. Amen!”
The Sikaman policeman’s job is a risky one because he is not properly equipped with even a trained dog to help track down criminals easily. So he has to use his own nose judiciously in sniffing out suspects while making sure a bullet doesn’t catch him square on the jaw.
My friend Sir Kofi Owuo, a.k.a. Death-By-Poverty was telling me journalists are in an even riskier profession. Apparently, he had been reading about the palaver of journalists in places like Algeria and Columbia. Algeria, even women journalists are not spared assassin’s bullet. You’d see them lying in front of their homes with their heads full of bullet holes.
In Columbia, no journalist is safe. When a journalist is leaving home, he has to tell his wife. “Darling, when I don’t come back by 7 p.m. check the mortuary
The drug trade in Columbia has made journalism a profession not worth practising. If you write on cocaine and the harm it is inflicting on society, you’ll certainly receive a phone call.
“Hello, Mr Journalist, your article yesterday was great. Congratulations! We never knew you were such brilliant writer, championing the cause of society. Again we say congrats! But you know something, by your article, you want to take the bread out of my and that of my family. You don’t want us to beak. We are aggrieved beyond measure”
“Oh, I was just… “You’d try to say something
“You don’t have to explain. The harm has already been done by your award-winning masterpiece. We have an appointment with you. You’ll hear from us.
Rest In Peace!” After such a phone call, you just have to pray to your soul, sing a hymn or two and get prepared fort appointment with death. For, death will surely come
I think pressmen in Sikaman would also have start informing their families appropriately before leaving for work now. “If I don’t come back early, I’m probably at the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Korle- Bu checking a leakage in my left ear due to a gendarme slap from an AMA official. If you don’t see me there, track me down to the emergency ward. If you see a newly-made cripple, I’m the one”
What about referees? These days they are guarded during football matches so that the risk they bear in terms of lost teeth is minimal. Formerly, it used to be a job full of woes and tribulations.
You were expected to oversee a match in such way that would favour a particular team. If that is not done, you’ll get back home and your wife will not recognise you. She’ll mistake you for Frank Bruno who had just lost a bout. When she finally recognises you, she’ll fix some hot water to massage your poor face.
I hear that these days, apart from the protection referees receive, some are well-armed with Damfo Dzai, a kind of jack-knife that can carve a rowdy supporters face in several designs.
My Press Secretary and part-time bodyguard Devine Ankamah, was telling me if he happens to be a referee, he’d surely carry a Kalashnikov AK 47 rifle with him, complete with loaded magazine, before officiating matches. According to him, that is the only way to do the job without fear or favour. Anyone dares will lose his jaw.
Anyway, risky jobs require good remuneration. As Kwame Korkorti once said, risky jobs require risky salary. A policeman would require a good pay so that when a criminal targets his left ear it would be worth the ‘amputation’. Same for journalists and cameramen.
But go round private workplaces and factories and you’d see really risky occupations where workers are receiving salaries they can’t see with the naked eye.
In fact, in some private workplaces, environmental safety is completely absent. Workers breathe in fumes, poisonous gases and risk lung and respiratory problems. Their employers do nothing about protecting them against these hazards. Check out their payer.
In other places, workers have their fingers chopped off on the job, some losing as many as four fingers in stretch. The compensation they get can best be described as “wicked”. Their employers live big, chop big, ride big but are not willing to pay more than ¢120,000 for lost fingers.
Actually the more fingers you lose, the more money you get. So if you intend losing your fingers on the job, it is advisable to lose as many as possible so that you can get more cash. Those who have lost one finger have not benefited much and are encouraged to lose more next time around.
Sikaman Palava is undertaking to investigate some of these cases of very risky jobs in private setups and companies where workers are being exploited to unnecessarily but not offered protection against health hazards, and not properly compensated when they sustain injuries.
This article was first published on Saturday, September 28, 1996
Features
Position yourself for God’s blessings
Motivated by the impending 40-day fasting and needless to add prayer programme, preceding the Greater Works Conference scheduled for August in Accra, I would like to draw attention to how believers can receive blessings from God.
There is a scripture in Hebrews 11:5 that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: and before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God”.
This clearly shows that in order to receive blessings from God, you must please God. How can one please God? You can only please God by obeying him and walking in line with God’s word. Just like how children who obey their parents, enjoy special treatment, so does God deal with his children who obey his word.
There are ways by which people receive blessings from God and holiness is an important criteria in the whole equation. Holiness is a process and not a one day event.
It is a mindset borne out of walking in obedience to God’s instructions i.e. his word. In order to have a mindset of living to please God, requires studying God’s word coupled with praying and fasting.
This helps us to develop trust in God by knowing his nature, what he likes and dislikes. This is what will enable us to live to please him and for our faith in him also to increase.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”
Fasting is one of the required criteria for blessings to be released and it goes with prayer because fasting without prayer is just a physical exercise. Fasting enables a person’s inner man to be in tune with the spirit of God and also becomes spiritually empowered to hear from God and also obey God.
Fasting enables a person’s spirit to feed on God’s word in a much more focused manner as compared to studying God’s word in normal times. As a result our spirit gains the upper hand to dominate the body and the soul, so that we are more conscious of the presence of God in our lives which causes us willingly the desire to live to obey God.
Holiness which is a prerequisite for pleasing God, can only manifest in our lives if we are able to overcome the desires of the flesh and this only happens when the flesh is subject to the spirit.
Apostle Paul said that “But l keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should not be castaway”, according to 1 Corinthians 9:27.
In order to bring the body or flesh into subjection so that believers will be able to live to please God, we have to study, God’s word in a certain state of mind which fasting and prayer appropriately provides.
Our minds are the battle grounds for decisions that either please God or the Devil. In order to please God so his blessings can be released upon our lives, we must continuously engage our minds with thoughts that is in line with God’s word.
Philippians 4:8 says that “Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things”. May God help us to live to please him by meditating on things that please the Lord, so we shall be blessed in all aspects of our lives. God bless.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
