Ghanaians have poor health behaviour – Dr Stella Gyamfi

Though issues pertaining to health are essential and should not be compromised, Ghanaians have been described as people with poor health behaviour.

A Public Health Specialist In- Charge of the Kaneshie Polyclinic, Dr Stella Gyamfi who made the disclosure said “people do not report at the hospital as the first option, but resort to seeking the opinion of relatives and friends to treat perceived ailments.”

“Others visit pharmacies where investigations are carried into their problems and medications are given while the underlying causes of the ailments are not identified,” she said..

She advised that patients should visit the hospital for proper diagnoses to be carried out on them to identify the disease for the appropriate medicine to be administered to them.

She explained that this was contrary to what pertained in advanced countries, where mandatory medical checkup were in place.

Dr Gyamfi said since health workers were worse offenders, the Ministry of Health had instituted a mandatory Peer Review Screening for its staff with a Medical Doctor In-Charge, after which the performance of the staff would be assessed based on the screening result.

Breast cancer awareness

She said the main reason for breast cancer awareness campaign in October was to educate women about the disease and the need to sensitise them for early detection for prompt treatment to be carried out on the patient.

She lamented that a friend of her’s who had her screening 20 years ago and became an advocate of early detection, had passed on this year.

Dr Gyamfi advised women to examine their breasts after they had completed their menses, adding that they should watch out for signs of lumps or swelling in the breast, discharges and changes in the nipples, changes in the colour of the breast, among others.

She commended women groups for the advocacy roles they had played over the years.

She said though women who had attained 50 years and above, those who had their menopause after 55 years, those who work in an environment where radiation takes place, those obese, and ladies who had commenced their menses as early as 12 years, were at a risk of contracting the disease, recent research had indicated that even ladies as young as 25 years had also contracted the disease.

Youth

She has called on the youth to believe in Jesus as their personal Saviour and he would direct them through life.
“As a child of God, find out God’s plan for you in life, pursue it and you will succeed. Success should be looked at from God’s perspective.”

The youth should be mindful of many destructions in life, pursue academic excellence, access God diligently and things would fall in place.

Career and family life

Dr Stella Gyamfi has three children, one is a medical Doctor, another is a Clinical Psychologist and the third is a PhD student of Actuarial Science.

Born in Kumasi to Mr Paul Brandford Gyamfi Senior and Mrs Grace Gyamfi, both Presbyterians, Dr Stella Gyamfi, started Class One when she was five years old at the State Experimental Primary School in Kumasi.

She passed the Common Entrance Examination at the age of 11 and enrolled at Aburi Senior High School and attended from Form One to Upper Sixth.

Eager to atone for the inability of her mother to become a Medical Doctor but settled for a Midwife, Dr Gyamfi, due to misinformation, chose and read Pharmacy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for one academic year.

Fortunately, since the determination was there and backed with ability, she assessed Soviet Union Scholarship in 1983 and enrolled to read language for one year, continued to study medicine in Ukraine and successfully completed in 1990.

Dr Gyamfi described the scholarship as very beneficial since many students could not have afforded to study medicine without support from foreign governments.

Poised to broaden her knowledge, she has obtained the following; Certificate in Theology at the Theological Seminary, Legon, 1997-98,  Bachelor in Divinity, 1998-2001, Masters in Public Health at the University of Ghana, 200-2001,  Masters of Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2004-2005 and PhD in Theology , with Specialty in Theological Ethics, 2013-2018.

Dr Stella Gyaamfi who is an adjunct lecturer has intimated that when she eventually lays down her medical tolls for good, she would prefer to go into full time lecturing.

By Raymond Kyekye