CCFC donates medical equipment to deprived Zogu Clinic

Some of the items

THE Zogu Health Centre, a clinic that serves a number of rural communities in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, has received a quantity of medical equipment to enable it offer healthcare services to the large number of people who depend on it.

The items, which were provided by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) and its local collaborator, Tuma Kavi, included BP apparatus, thermometers, drip stands, weighing scales, a wheel chair and bed sheets.

Although the clinic is located in Zogu, it also serves inhabitants of other communities, such as Jegong, Saandu, Jegong Kukuo, Zokuga, Tigu and Nyeko.

The clinic is therefore under constant pressure to meet the health needs of the people, particularly in attending to people suffering from malaria and women in labour.

The Daily Graphic learnt that the construction and furnishing of the Zogu Health Centre was funded by the CCFC and commissioned on November 23rd, 2006.

“The CCFC provided this facility to the people of Zogu because it realised that the old building that was being used as a clinic was in a very deplorable state,” the Programme Officer of Tuma Kavi in the Zogu area, Ms Vivian Awabu Sumani, mentioned during the presentation of the medical equipment.

She said her organisation had since then been collaborating with the CCFC to provide logistics to the clinic and also support health promotion activities in the Zogu area.

“We provide support for the immunisation of children against childhood illnesses and the provision of Vitamin A supplements. We also organise periodic de-worming exercises in the area,” she noted.

Officials of the District Health Directorate commended the CCFC and Tuma Kavi for extending support to the Zogu clinic, explaining that the cost of healthcare was too expensive for government alone to bear.

The programmes manager for the CCFC, Mr Paul Twene said the CCFC was working towards improving the welfare of children.

“But children do not leave in isolation, they live in families and communities. That is why we work to improve general living standards in communities by improving access to potable water, healthcare and quality education, as well enhance the capacity of families to make income,” he stated.

(This story was also published in the Daily Graphic of February 13, 2012, page 23)

VALENTINE SPIRIT DYING SLOWING IN TAMALE

THE hype of Valentine celebrations in the Tamale metropolis is at its lowest point this year.

Tamale Central Business District

Many people seem to be unaware that Tuesday, February 14, is St Valentine’s Day, and not much has been heard so far in terms of events to mark the day.

“Nobody is talking about Valentine. It is like people have lost interest in it. So if not because you mentioned it, it would have come to pass without I knowing,” Esther Awudu, a Public Relations personnel at the Tamale Teaching Hospital told the Daily Graphic.

Mr Issah Murtala, a presenter on Radio Savannah in Tamale, said he had not come across any announcements on Valentine events, adding that he was not surprised about this development.

St. Valentine (Wikipedia)

“I think that over the years, there have been criticisms that the youth use Valentine celebrations to engage in acts of promiscuity, so this condemnation has dumped the Valentine spirit,” he said, adding that he had even posted a message on his Facebook wall about Valentine, but people were not commenting on it as expected.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Kudus, a dealer in gift cards at the Central Business District, said only two girls had so far come to buy Valentine cards from his shop.

“This year, we brought only a few Valentine cards to sell because last year, sales were poor and we run into losses,” he noted.

TAMALE GOES DEAD QUITE - As Black Stars fail to reach AFCON finals

THE streets of Tamale became dead quite this evening as the failure of the Black Stars to make it to the finals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations left a bitter pill in the mouths of many Ghanaians in the area.

An aura of despair cast its shadow over the sprawling city as many of the residents could not hide their disappointment.“Boss, it’s bad. I am totally speechless,” Abdul-Wahab Jebreel, a journalist said, adding that this is probably the last time he is going to invest his heart in the Black Stars.

“Never again would I watch Ghana’s match because they always disappoint us at the last minute,” Jebreel stated.

For Mr Mohammed Umar, an accountant at the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Tamale, the defeat was too painful to accept.

“I still do not believe it. We were so close to the final and all of a sudden, pew. A team of no match to our team has kicked us out. How can we accept this,” he lamented.

Indeed, many Ghanaians had harboured high expectations that the Black Stars would qualify to the finale of the 2012 AFCON and lift the cup once again.

All of a sudden, they had to accept the reality that the dream of qualifying to the final and possibly lifting the cup had suddenly evaporated.

What probably caused more anguish to some of these football loving Ghanaians was the repeated failure of Asamoah Gyan to give Ghana victory at the times it matter most.

“Why is it that every time, it is he (Gyan) who fails us? Aaa...ba,” Aisha Issah, the owner of Ayi’s Special Dishes at the Tamale Central Business district complained.

In her opinion, this should be the last tournament of Asamoah Gyan and the other senior places.

“Next time, the coach should send only Dede Ayew and the other young guys,” Aisha suggested, may be confirming the cliché that we have 22 million coaches in Ghana.

Ghana lost by a loan goal to Zambia and by so doing has been relegated to fight for the third or fourth place.