Patholab screens Adabraka market women

Patholab Solutions Medical Laboratory (PSML), a medical laboratory that provides preventive wellness services, has organised a free health screening exercise for market women at Adabraka and its environs to create awareness and educate them on the causes of diseases and deaths among Ghanaians as part of activities to mark its 20th anniversary celebration.

About 200 people were screened for all sorts of health conditions including diabetes, malaria, hypertension, among others.

A team of medical laboratory scientists and some laboratory technicians from Patholab Solutions Medical Laboratory carried out the exercise which lasted for five hours.

The team also donated a blood pressure monitor and trained three women at the Adabraka Market on how to use the monitor on members of the market.

Elevated blood pressure

In an interview with the Daily Graphic during the exercise, the Laboratory Director and Clinical Biochemist of Patholab Solutions Medical Laboratory, Mrs Elizabeth-Irene Baitie, said elevated blood pressure was a serious medical condition that increased the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases and it was common among the market women.

“It is one of the leading killers because it’s silent; it doesn’t give any warning and usually by the time people present to the hospital it’s either advanced and has damaged organs that are receiving blood at such high pressure, so we screen them early so if there’s a problem they can present early,” she said.

Mrs Baitie noted that the PSML had worked in the Adabraka community for 20 years and saw the need to give back to the community as part of its celebration.

She said because of the nature of work and lifestyle of the market women, as well as lack of education and information, many of them contracted health conditions that were a threat to their lives and as a responsible member of the community, there was the need to help create the awareness.

“We have been in this community for long and we see a lot of these women come in for check-ups at our lab when a doctor has referred them, but today we want them to know that it is okay to still have a check-up when they are well,” she said.

Required Information

Mrs Baitie added that most market women were not having the required information in relation to having a balanced diet.

“Their diets are really heavy on carbohydrates. They come to the market with their goods in a taxi and sit down the whole day to sell.

We want to emphasise the need for them to eat more fruits and vegetables and encourage them to take a 10 minutes’ walk around the community,” she said.

Speaking on the way forward after the exercise, Mrs Baitie said PMSL was going to look at a number of activities geared towards empowering the community and imparting knowledge to people on what to do to take care of their health.

“This exercise will be replicated across other market centres. We are looking at areas closest to us to have that impact,” she said.

For her part, the Adabraka Market Women’s Vice President, Ms Hajia Hasia Awudu, expressed her gratitude to PSML for the initiative.

She urged market women to have more check-ups and live healthy lives by taking care of their diet.