Two diabetes support centres established in Accra
Two diabetes support centres have been inaugurated in Accra to give diabetics access to health care and insulin.
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Located at the Ga South Municipal Hospital and the Maamobi General Hospital, the centres have education and counselling rooms, a pharmacy, a laboratory and a consulting room.
They will also screen people for diabetes, train healthcare professionals and create accessibility to quality insulin and diagnostic equipment at affordable prices for residents in the metropolis.
Background to the centre
The centres were established through a public-private partnership between Novo Nordisk, the world’s leading diabetic company headquartered in Demark, Palb Pharmaceuticals, and the National Diabetes Association of Ghana, in collaboration with the two hospitals.
Dignitaries’ Remarks
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the Senior Vice-President in charge of International Operations for Novo Nordisk, Mr Mike Doustdar, said Ghana was the third country in Africa in which the organisation had established centres.
“We have similar setups in Kenya and Nigeria and if all goes well, we will expand with additional centres here in Ghana later this year,” he said.
He indicated that diabetes was increasing in Africa with about 20 million people affected currently and an estimated 41 million developing the disease by 2015.
He attributed the rise in the cases to the ageing and expanding population; rapid urbanisation, unhealthy diets and reduced exercise.
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In her address, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Margit Thomsen, said the partnership was an example of how “we can build additional healthcare capacity, transfer medical knowledge and improve lives of people with diabetes in Ghana.”
The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Suguri-Tia, lauded the financiers of the project for their initiative and called for more centres to be established in other regions.