The struggle by residents of Kwahu-Nkwatia and its environs to access healthcare will soon be a thing of the past.
This is because the area will soon have a one-stop hospital fully built for them as part of the massive investments in the healthcare needs of the people.
The man, who has conceived the idea, says the facility, when completed, will become a Medical Tourism Centre with specialist consultants who will cover a wide range of specialist works and handle all the healthcare needs of the people.
Nana Owiredu Wadie I, a winner of last year’s 40 under 40 entrepreneur award, said the facility will be at the forefront of healthcare delivery in Ghana.
Nana Owiredu Wadie, who was recently enstooled the development chief ( Nkosuohene) of Kwahu-Nkwatia, made the promise at a ceremony to enroll more than a thousand residents on the National Health Insurance Scheme for free.
Apart from first-time registrants, the exercise targeted the renewal of cards and beneficiaries that needed replacements.
Through the Kabaka Foundation, a non-profit making organisation, the residents also benefitted from a health screening exercise aimed at checking their health status.
They were screened for random blood sugar, fastened blood sugar, cholesterol, hepatitis, and Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) for men above 40 years.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Dr Henry Larbi, said the exercise, which is part of the Foundation’s health financing pillar, is to provide healthcare funding for indigenes of Kwahu to meet their basic healthcare needs.
“It is one of our health programmes which is christened the health financing pillar. Basically what we are doing at Kabaka Foundation is the request of our chairman and founder, Nana Owiredu Wadie, who is the Nkosuohene, who wants to implement this health financing project whereby we will be able to fund the indigenes of Kwahu Nkwatia and the people staying around.
“With this idea, what we intend to do is that we want everybody to have the needed funds through the health insurance scheme to be able to get basic healthcare services at any time,” he explained.
The Public Relations Officer of the Kwahu East National Health Insurance Authority, Kwesi Gyimah, said enrolling on the scheme reduces the burden of investing hugely in healthcare.
“Financial challenge has been the constraints every now and then when it comes to health services but with the health insurance our people recognise the importance of registering the indigenes amongst us, those who can’t afford to pay we have people coming to renew and register their health insurance for them,” he stated.
A pharmacist at the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital, Dadie Kofi Karikari Buabeng, who led a team of health personnel to screen the people, urged them to be health conscious by checking their status periodically.
“We need to be checking our health status from time to time. The earlier you do it the better so that you can identify all the risks factors and attend to them,” he advised.