Edem calls on Chiefs to Sensitize Community members on dangers of COVID-19

Edem presenting to Gifty Fumey

The popular Ghanaian musician Edem of the VRGM has called on Chiefs to educate their community members against the dangers post by the COVID-19 pandemic in quest to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

He was speaking during a brief Ceremony to support some 3 Community Clinics in the Ho Municipality in the Volta Region.

The VRGM Boss Edem has partnered FOODTECH Limited (Ltd) on Friday, to donate some relief items to three community clinics in the Ho Municipality in the Volta Region to augment their fight against the deadly COVID-19 disease.

FOODTECH Ltd are the producers of Cornelly, No8 and Snappy Exotic Chilly Chips.

The clinics were Tokokoe CHPS Compound - Tokokoe, Taviefe – Deme CHPS Compound - Deme and Alale Family Health Clinic – Fiave.

The items donated included Veronica buckets, gallons of liquid soap, gallons of sanitizers and packs of tissue napkins.

Others included hand thermometers, Blood Pressure Monitors, stethoscopes, weighing scales, packs of Vitamin C and bags of FOODTECH products.

Edem who is also the Brand Ambassador for FOODTECH Ltd made it known to the Daily Graphic after presenting the items to clinics that it became necessary as part of measures to curb the COVID-19 disease to support the clinics so that the frontline health workers would not exposed to the disease.

He congratulated the health workers in the various clinics for their sacrifice although the clinics lacked tools to work with.

Edem called on the elders from the communities to create awareness and educate their community members on the virus.

“Our elders, if any of you know something about the virus, do not hide it, teach your members. Awareness and education on the virus is very important. We all have to come together and defeat this virus”, he added.

He urged the community members to adhere to the social distancing protocol, wearing of nose mask and also washing of the hands regularly or use hand sanitizers if water is not available to contain the virus.

UNITY

Edem called for unity among the community members in the quest to fight the virus.

He urged the elders and members from the communities to extend helping hand to each other but not to rescind on each other.

He said “if anybody has food or anything that he or she can give to the neighbor, why not help your neighbor who is in need. Let us extend helping hand to each other. Let’s be one person because unity is strength”.

HEALTH WORKERS

Some health workers who shared their views with the Daily Graphic expressed gratitude to Edem and FOODTECH Ltd for their gesture but outlined some challenges facing their various facilities.

The Midwifery Officer for the Tokokoe CHPS Compound, Madam Gifty Fumey, lamented that the clinic do not have doctors and most pressingly the facility lacked water, labor beds and bowls and a baby’s heartbeat monitor for checking their breath in the womb.

She also said that the clinic lacked a bungalow for nurses so she had to come from Ho every day to attend to labor issues. 

“The issue is a very disturbing one, if I had to come from Ho and someone is in labor and needed to be attended to immediately? We could lose lives through this so we beg the government and corporate bodies to extend helping hand to us, we are really suffering here”, she reiterated.

Meanwhile, the Facility In Charge, Deme CHPS Compound, Madam Bertha Dansowaa said the clinic was advocating for donations to purchase the hand thermometer so it was a blessing for Edem and FOODTECH Ltd to support them with the items. 

ELECTRICITY

The Staff Nurse for Alale Family Health Clinic, Madam Linda Kamassah lamented that the clinic do not have an electricity supply so service delivery was difficult as they do not have a vaccine fridge because of lack of electricity.

“So we had to go to clinics that have the vaccine fridge so that we can take from them, it is making service delivery very difficult”, she added.

She also said that as there was a need to wash hands regularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the clinic do not have water supply to enable washing of the hand regularly.

The health workers urged the general public to obey the protocols and the directives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the government of Ghana because the virus was real.