Be compassionate in caring for the sick — Prof. Alder

Staff and students of Ensign Global College in a group picture

 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 further 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 stated that 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 then 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. -GNA