Asanko Gold donates medical supplies to 2 districts

Mining firm, Asanko Gold, has donated $100,453 worth of medical supplies to be distributed free of charge to patients in Amansie West and South districts of the Ashanti Region.

The items, a 20-footer container, presented in partnership with Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC),  was released to a centralised storage facility for onward distribution.

It covers all patients who visit all health facilities in the two districts where the mining firm operates.

The now annual gesture is in its third year under Asanko Gold's Obaatanpa Project, which aims at, among others, to improve maternal and child health care in the two districts.

Track record

The acting Executive General Manager of Asanko Gold, Mr Ahmed Mohaideen Yahya, said the company had built a track record in community investment that focused on improving sanitation, health, education and community infrastructure in the two districts over the years.

"This has reinforced Asanko's resolve to promote community well-being and improve healthcare delivery in our operational area, which forms part of our corporate social responsibility initiative," he said at the presentation ceremony at Manso Nkwanta.

"Asanko has partnered equally minded organisations to leverage our presence in creating a positive and self-sustaining legacy in our area of operation," he added.

Charity work

HPIC is a Canadian registered charity organisation dedicated to increasing access to medicine and improving health care in the most vulnerable populations around the world.

It works with the Canadian pharmaceutical and healthcare industry to treat about one million people every year through a well-established network of Canadian volunteers and global partners.

Teenage pregnancy

The District Director of Health, Mr Bernard Badu Bediako, who took delivery of the drugs, said conditions related to teenage pregnancy especially in the district had increased the burden of the health directorate, adding that the medical supplies had come at the most appropriate time.

He said teenage pregnancy remained a major challenge in the Amansie West District, forcing a lot of young girls between the ages of 10 and 19 years to drop out of school.

Between 2018 and 2020, there were more than 209 new cases out of every 1,000 pregnant women in the mining district, he said.

The District Health Director said the situation was even compounded by antenatal clinic attendance and anaemia among pregnant women.

He said the donation was timely in view of the situation at hand in the districts.

"There has been no maternal deaths; stillbirth rate has reduced from 34.6 per cent per every 1,000 live births to 1.6 per cent of 1,000 live births," he said.