'Regular medical check-ups vital'

Samuel K. Obour Oct - 26 - 2013 , 05:37

Mr Alex Kojo Appiah, the Presiding Member of the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly, has appealed to Ghanaians to have regular medical check-ups to prevent sudden deaths.

He said regular medical check-ups would expose hidden ailments which could kill suddenly.

Mr Appiah, who is also the assembly member for the Edumadze Electoral Area at Ekumfi Edumadze, was speaking at a health screening exercise organised for residents of the electoral area at Edumadze last Thursday.

Three medical students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Medical School doing their practical at the Mercy Fistula Hospital at Mankessim, Miss Serwah Pokuaa, Miss Anita Ndaa and Miss Nancy Kokofu, took turns to address the people, especially on hypertension.

Miss Pokuaa advised hypertensive patients to take their medications on a daily basis as the sickness could only be managed with regular taking of drugs.

Miss Ndaa said hypertension was a hereditary sickness which could be inherited from parents, adding that too much work without taking rest and too much intake of alcohol and salt could also cause the sickness.

Miss Kokofu said though hypertension was normally regarded as a heart-related sickness, it could also affect the brain and the kidney and advised the people to exercise regularly.

Dr Yaa Darko, an Ophthalmologist at the hospital, who spoke on eye ailments, advised people with cataract not to let people deceive them into thinking that they had a cure for it.