As part of activities geared towards the celebration of this year’s World Malaria Day, which will be marked on Monday, April 25, Global Pharmaceutical company, Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana, has extended its donation of antimalarial drugs to the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
The company over the weekend, donated drugs worth GHC 30,000 to the hospital to help in the fight against malaria.
This is in line with the company’s ACT for Africa Campaign, an initiative toward a malaria-free continent.
Presenting the medicines on behalf of the company, the Medical Representative for Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana in Tamale, Mr. Seidu Ibrahim Mumuni, reiterated the company’s commitment to the fight against malaria.
“Malaria has been crippling us as a country, and also in Africa, so we have been leading the initiative to provide certain antimalarial drugs, particularly LONART to combat and eradicate malaria from Ghana and Africa at large”, he said.
Mr. Ibrahim Mumuni further explained that the donation is also aimed at creating awareness and empowering healthcare providers to be able to reduce the malaria burden in Ghana and Africa.
He said Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana, will continue the donations in some selected regions of the country as it had already begun, and added that the team will also engage in community health talks, to educate people on personal hygiene and other preventive measures against malaria.
“We are doing these donations across the nation. Last week, we did the first donation at the Koforidua Regional Hospital, and we are here at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. We will be going to other parts of the country to do similar donations. It is our hope that these donations will go a long way to help the needy access healthcare. The ‘Act for Africa’ campaign is not only about donations. We also include educating the surrounding communities to create health awareness”, Mr. Ibrahim Mumuni said.
Receiving the medicines on behalf of the hospital, Dr. Adam Atiku, of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, appreciated the gesture and commended Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana for its instrumental role in the health sector.
He indicated that malaria is the leading cause of admissions at the children’s ward and the leading cause of attendance at the hospital’s polyclinic.
“The fight against malaria is still very important to us and donations such as these will help us. People from the hinterlands come here for malaria treatment but do not have the resources to buy the basic antimalarial drugs so donations such as these will help us to support them”, he said.
Dr. Atiku said the drugs will also be used to treat children who have malaria to reduce the increasing mortality rates caused by malaria.
Also expressing appreciation for the donation, the Director of Pharmacy for the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Dr. Salifu Alhassan Tiah, said Malaria is among the top ten leading causes of death in the hospital and so the donations would go a long way to help the fight against the disease.
“I believe that this is not going to be the end of it, we will expect that we will keep this relationship into the future so that together we can all combat this monster called malaria”, he said.
Health Talk
Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana also continued its visit to the Nurses and Midwives Training College in Tamale, where the company donated antimalarial drugs and other medicines worth GHC 8,000.
After the donation, the Medical Representative for Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana in Tamale, Mr. Seidu Ibrahim Mumuni, advised the students to visit the hospital and get tested for malaria whenever they show symptoms of malaria.
He discouraged them from self-medicating and described the act as very dangerous.
For her part, Madam Angakumpo Dorithy Talata, Staff Secretary of the Nurses and Midwives Training College also educated the students on personal hygiene and advised them to drink more water and eat healthy to keep their immune systems strong always.
She also called for future collaborations between the school and Bliss GVS Pharma Ghana to achieve the common goal of eradicating malaria.
