Prisons Service screens convicts for tuberculosis
The Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) has started screening new prisoners for tuberculosis (TB) and other infectious diseases before they begin their sentences.
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According to the Programme Coordinator of HIV/AIDS and TB of the Prisons Service, CSP James Adu-Mensah Danfuku, the exercise had taken place in six prisons and that 20 more would be covered by the end of the year.
Those covered already are three at Ankaful in the Central Region, two in Kumasi and one at Nsawam in the Eastern Region. There are 43 prisons in the country.
Courtesy call
Mr Danfuku made this known when the members of three bodies which provide health services to the prisons service paid a courtesy call on the acting Director-General of the GPS, Mr Emmanuel Yao Adzator, last Wednesday.
The visitors were there to among other things discuss health concerns of prisoners with the prison authorities.
They comprised personnel on the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and two non-governmental organisations (NGO), the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) and the Theatre for Social Change (TSC).
The Head of Monitoring and Evaluation of the NTP, Mr Kwame Afutu, donated a microscope to aid the exercise.
Mr Danfuku explained that the exercise had become necessary because some prisoners had been diagnosed with TB.
“We have detected that some prisons have recorded cases of TB and we don’t want it to spread, hence the exercise,” he said, even though he was not able to provide any data.
“We are, therefore, grateful for the medical equipment donated to us. We will use it in the screening exercise,” he said.
The Executive Director of the PPAG, Dr Joseph Amuzu, endorsed the initiative and expressed his outfit’s readiness to ensure its sustenance.