Fire Outbreak At Korle-Bu

Daily Guide

By Esther Awuah

A FIRE outbreak occurred on Tuesday night at the Hearing Assessment Centre, also known as the Audiology centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

This comes in the wake of recent fire outbreaks that have hit the country over the past few weeks.

Equipment destroyed at the centre included audiometers and other hearing accessories.

Dr. Emmanuel Dornu Kitcher, Head of the Unit told Daily Guide that at about 6pm that day, a security man on duty detected smoke emerging from the centre which had closed for the day.

He said because there were no fire extinguishers at the centre, the security had a tough time putting out the fire, but the timely arrival of the Regional Fire Service team helped salvage the situation.

He said the fire service and police are yet to investigate and determine the cause of the accident but noted that it might have been caused by an electrical failure due to recent power fluctuations the centre has been experiencing.

The estimated cost and extent of damage is not immediately known but at the time of Daily Guide’s visit the Major of Accra, Dr. Alfred Vanderpuije, was at the scene to assess the situation.

The centre was opened in 2005 and is the second of its kind in the country besides that of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.

According to Dr. Kitcher, the centre which was very well resourced with state-of-the-art equipment is used to care for patients with hearing disabilities from infants to adults.

He appealed to NGOs and philanthropists to come to the aid of the hospital.

59 Suspects Arrested At Soldier Bar

Daily Guide

By Esther Awuah

59 suspected criminals and prostitutes were on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, arrested at the infamous soldier bar at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

The suspects, who were made up of 30 males and 29 females including a nursing mother were arrested at their various hid out by a combined team from the Police Headquarters and the Nima Police at about 11 pm.

Briefing newsmen the Nima Divisional Police Commander, ACP Angwubutoge Awuni said they had received numerous complaints of attacks on workers who use the area around the soldier bar after work.

He explained that the reports from the workers suggested that anytime they used the route around 8pm they were attacked at knife point to hand over their possessions.

He stated that as a result the combined team stormed the area and arrested the suspects.

He indicated that the suspects would be screened and thereafter processed for court.

He called for a continuous collaboration from the general public, to help the police fight crime. Since they (the police) were poised the make the country a safe place to live.

Invest In Public Toilets - Veep

Daily Guide

By Esther Awuah

The Vice President, John Mahama has called on the private sector to invest heavily in the construction and maintenance of public toilets and other waste disposal points.

He said this among other things would harness a significant amount of liquid waste which can be treated and turned into organic product to increase the output of the ‘Going Green’ Project (GPP) which was recently launched.

GPP is to address the liquid waste problems associated with environmental sanitation.

The Vice President made this known at the First National Environmental Sanitation Forum held in Accra, which was organized by the National Coalition of NGOs in Waste Management and the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology.

It was sponsored by the World Bank Ghana Office as well as the Environmental Service Providers Association.

The forum was to afford stakeholders the opportunity to share ideas and demonstrate their commitment to greening and improving waste management practices in the country.

It is also in line with the current governments ‘100 Days’ Sanitation and Ghana Going Green (GGG) Agenda.

The Vice President noted that the rate at which plastic waste is being generated in the country is as a result of the over usage of plastic bags.

“You are all aware of the change in food vending practices where food wrapping and packaging has shifted from biodegradable materials like leaves, to the use of plastic bags, resulting in what I would term as the ‘Plastic Menace’”.

He said despite these challenges, various intervention strategies have been undertaken by previous Governments, Civil Society Organizations as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

These interventions he said are environmental education, clean-up campaigns, infrastructural development, waste dumping sites, provision of waste bins at vantage points and the mobilization of financial and human capital to address waste management issues.

He however indicated that some of these interventions and policies failed because of lack of political will by previous governments, misplaced priorities, lack of financing opportunities and appropriate technology for renewable energy resource development as well as unrealistic implementation strategies at the local community level.

He noted that “equally important root causes of the poor sanitation in our cities and villages are the lack of community involvement and ownership of the intervention strategies, as well as inadequate education and awareness creation. I believe if these issues were given the necessary attention, the story would have been told differently today.”

He said any programme that would emanate from the forum aimed at addressing the waste management challenges in the country, should include decentralized strategies, since it would “empower local communities to seriously tackle their sanitation problems by giving them ownership of the intervention facilities.”

The Minister for Environment Science and Technology said the fast growing urban populations are presently exerting immense pressure on the natural resources of the country, as well as creating waste management problems in major towns and cities.

The environmental problems associated with this trend of growth she said have direct bearing on human health.

She however stated that urban growth cannot be avoided as long as cities are viewed as engines of growth contributing significantly to the overall economic growth of the country.

“To effectively tackle these problems, we must change our present strategies of solve the problems as they come and adopt a long term multi-pronged holistic planning approach”, she added.

She therefore called on the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AES), the Department of Urban Toads and the District Assemblies to consider in the future, designing roads with covered gutters and as much as possible take measures to cover all open gutters along the streets in the major cities.

There were statements of commitment from various Ministries, Security Agencies, Traditional Authorities, Religious Bodies and other stakeholders who pledged their commitment to seeing a clean Ghana within the first 100 days of the NDC administration.

Minister Wads Into Illegal Mounting of Mast

Daily Guide

By Esther Awuah

THE MINISTRY of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) says its investigations have revealed that some communication network operators in the country have mounted mast without the necessary permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to the Ministry, this has resulted in numerous complaints concerning potential public health risks and safety of such installations particularly those located in residential areas.

A statement from the Ministry has therefore directed all communication network operators in the country to obtain the necessary environmental permit for all proposed mast sites before installation.

“This requires that each investor completes an Environmental Assessment Registration form and submit to the EPA with the following attachments; site plan duly signed by Licensed Surveyor, Block Plan Evidence of Neighbourhood Consultation; Lease Agreement.

The Ministry further advised the companies to avoid locating their mast in areas which are not suitable, particularly densely populated residential areas to avert possible accidents to life and property.

It also reminded all “investors in communication in the country that under section 29 of the Environmental Assessment Registration 1999, LI 1652, all such developments are to be registered and environmental permits obtained before construction commences.”

Non-compliance of this regulation it emphasized, is an offence which may evoke the necessary sanctions which includes summary conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.

Cervical Cancer Alert!

Daily Guide

By Esther Awuah

DR. LYNDA Decker, a general practitioner at Franklyn Medical Services has revealed that the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), that causes Cancer of the cervix, can be contracted through an ordinary skin-to-skin contact like a handshake.

Even though she explained that the virus is spread through sexual intercourse, she was quick to add that it could be gotten from a mere handshake when a women shakes the hand of a carrier of HPV, then mistakenly inserts her fingers in her vagina due to certain activities she might engage in, then she can contract the virus.

She however noted that condoms are helpful preventive measures to acquiring the virus, but do not fully protect women from acquiring the HPV.

At a media training seminar organised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and Glaxo SmithKline in Accra, Dr. Decker said the disease which is the second most common cancer affecting women under 45 years, occurs when abnormal cells on the cervix which is located at the lower part of the uterus, grow out of control.

Throwing more light on HPV, she noted that there are about a 100 types HPV and just about 15 out of this figure causes the cancer whiles some of them cause genital warts.

She said even though the HPV can stay for years in the body without a woman noticing it, there is the need to have a regular Pap smear.

A Pap smear which she said is also known as the Pap test “is a procedure to test for cervical cancer in women. A Pap smear involves collecting cells from the cervix.”

She added that during a pap test the doctor scraps a small sample of cells from the surface of the cervix to look for cell changes.

She noted that if a Pap test shows abnormal cell changes, the doctor may do other tests to look for precancerous or cancer cells on the cervix.

Detecting these cells early with a Pap smear she emphasised, is the first step in halting the possible development of cervical cancer.

She however noted that after the test is done and the result is positive, an intensive treatment is conducted. But when the results are negative a patient is given a vaccine to prevent the virus from affection the cervix.

Touching briefly on the symptoms of cervical cancer, Dr. Decker stated that “abnormal cervical cell changes in the cervix rarely cause symptoms, but one may have symptoms if those cell changes grow into cervical cancer.”

Some of these symptoms, she said, may include: bleeding from the vagina that is not normal; bleeding when something comes in contact with the cervix, such as during sex or when a diaphragm is inserted; pain during sex; and vaginal discharge that is tingered with blood.

She said every sexually active woman is at risk of an infection from a cancer-causing HPV type throughout her lifetime.

She noted that it is estimated that up to 80 per cent of women will acquire a human papilloma virus infection by the age of 50, and up to 50 percent of these infections will be from a virus type which has the potential to cause cervical cancer.

She therefore advised that one of the ways to avoid getting the virus is to abstain from sex or practice safe sex, and limit the number of sexual partners.

She announced that the Pap test can be done at a few specialised hospitals like Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ridge Hospital and a few private hospitals like Franklyn Medical Service, and the cost involved is between GH¢15 and GH¢20.

Globally, it is estimated that 500, 000 new cases of cervical cancer occur annually, 1,400 women are told that they have cervical cancer every day, and one woman dies from cervical cancer every two minutes.

‘No Payments Made On Laptops’

Daily Guide

By Esther Awuah

THE MINISTRY of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) has emphasized that no payments have been made for the Laptops under the One Laptop per Child Project (OLPC).

This was in reaction to recent media reports on the arrival and payment of the 1,000 laptops under the OLPC.

A release signed by Abdul Hakim Ahmed, Media Liasion at MOFEP said the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffour has stated that he authorized payment for just the clearing and storage of the computers at the time they arrived and not the purchase of the computer as is being alleged.

“The GH¢23,239.12 figure published by the media was the cost of the clearing and storage of the 1000 laptops and not the actual payment for the 10,000, which cost $2,050,000.00 (two million and fifty thousand dollars).”

He emphasised that although letters of credit for the payment of the 10,000 laptops were established, nothing has so far been paid. He indicated that the OLPC shipped the initial 1,000 laptops out of the total 10,000 to the Ministry of Education as a gesture of goodwill.

It said MOFEP will be working together with the Ministry of Education to pay the OLPC the cost of the 1,000 laptops which have already been cleared and are in the custody of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry he said will withhold payment for the remaining 9000 laptops under the OLPC pending proposed reviews of the transaction.

Giving a background to the whole issue, he noted that “when the OLPC programme was conceived and discussed by stakeholders in 2007, a joint memorandum was submitted to Cabinet by the Ministers of Education, Science and Sports (MOESS), and Finance and Economic Planning in 2007.

On Thursday, April 19, 2007, Cabinet endorsed the proposals and requested the Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning and Education, Science and Sports to initiate preparatory work through consultations with One Laptop per Child to enable Ghana to join the OLPC programme.

The OLPC programme became one of the policy initiatives contained in the 2007 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana which indicates the usage of computers in schools.

Subsequently, Parliament approved the programme and allocated GH¢3 million as seed money for this programme under the 2008 HIPC budgetary allocation for the Ministries of Communication, Education and MOFEP.

MOFEP and MOESS, at a meeting jointly agreed to request three companies to pilot their laptops in two to five primary schools, for at least 6 months, to ascertain their robustness, user-friendliness, and durability. OLPC, a non­governmental and non-profit making organization, set up primarily to manufacture laptops for primary schools responded to the request. It provided equipment and funded two pilot sites - one deprived urban, one rural.

On September 8, 2008, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports wrote to the Chief Executive of Public Procurement Authority to request for single source to purchase 10,000 laptops at a unit cost of $195.00 from One Laptop per Child.

The Chief Executive in his letter no. PPA/CEO/1349/08 dated September 18, 2008 wrote to grant approval for the sole source of the 10,000 laptops from One Laptop per Child at a cost of US$195.00 which happened to be a wrong quote for the laptops.

On 23rd October 2008, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports wrote again a letter. No. MOESS/OLPC/2008 to the Chief Executive for the revision of the unit cost from $195 to $205 which was concurrently approved by the Public Procurement Authority letter no. PPA/CEO/1574/08 dated 29th October 2008.

On 31st October 2008 the Ministry signed its portion of the contract and sent it to OLPC in USA.

On November 19, 2008, OLPC also signed its portion of the contract for the provision of the 10,000 laptops.

The Ministry of Education as a result wrote to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to approve the release of funds to pay for the laptops in letter no. MOESS/OPLC/01/08 dated on December 3, 2008.

In line with its statutory duties, MOFEP authorized the Bank of Ghana through the Controller and Accountant General to establish letters of credit based on the agreement signed between the Ministry of Education and the OLPC project.”