The Ghana Hemophilia Society, a Non-Governmental Organization which seeks the welfare of persons living with hemophilia, has held a capacity building program for health practitioners in the Volta Region to enable them to care adequately for hemophiliacs.
At the workshop held over the weekend in the regional capital Ho, Medical Doctors, Physicians, Laboratory Assistants, Midwives and Nurses, were trained on how to diagnose hemophilia patients, and also to create awareness of the disease in the region.
Hemophilia is a genetic disease that occurs when the blood fails to clot normally, leading to excessive bleeding through some parts of the human body.
The Programs Manager of the Hemophilia Society, Nana Yaa Oparebea Adjei, during the workshop indicated that there were about 2,700 people living with the disease in Ghana, with about 20 of them being in the Volta Region.
She said the Society over the past years had been working significantly to improve the health condition of the patients through outreach programs and provision of the necessary equipment.
“We have been able to set up four treatment centres in the country, currently we have also donated a coagulometer to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital which is being used for the whole country. It’s a state of art machine that was donated to them to manage these patients,” she said.
Nana Yaa Oparebea, who is also a professional nurse and the facilitator at the at the workshop, noted that the Society trains at least 20 health workers outside Ghana annually, in order to build their capacities, and has reached out to 2,000.
She pleaded with health practitioners saying “with hemophiliacs, lets bare it in mind that we need their support. It is genetic, it’s inherited, and this is no fault of these children… we should have patience with them, you show them love and commitment, lets show them that they are still part of us,” she said.
She noted that a modern facility will soon be established to bring hemophiliacs under a single treatment centre in the country.
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By: Albert Kuzor/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
