Neurologist calls for collaborative efforts in managing stroke in Ghana
A Senior Neurologist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Albert Akpalu, has called for a collaborative effort in fighting strokes in the country.
According to him, stroke can only be fought when all those involved in fighting the disease can concurrently administer medication without any of them being left out.
The doctor, the nurse, the nutritionist, and the speech therapist should always be there to meet the patient and administer medications. He went on to say that this will help prevent treatment delays and, if possible, eliminate treatment-related deaths.
He was speaking at a meeting with some survivors of the disease when he disclosed this.
Dr. Akpalu has called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, supply every region in the country with the device that determines that one is infested with stroke since that will help prevent people from travelling from afar to get access to the machine.
People travel from very far places to Korle Bu here to have access to the device that tells them that they indeed have a stroke, which at times is very worrying and causes delays in treatment. Besides, some of the drugs for stroke should be put on the National Health Scheme to help the poor and needy who have a stroke.
He said Ghanaians should be careful of what they eat and do a lot of exercise to prevent them from contracting stroke because it is very deadly and kills faster than any other medical condition.
Meanwhile, the president of the Stroke Support Association Network Ghana, Chief Dr. Ben S. Jabuni, has disclosed that there are lots of challenges confronting stroke management in the country.
He said the disease is not well known in Ghana and that, as a result of the ignorance of many Ghanaians, instead of seeing stroke as a medical challenge, they claim it is a spiritual issue and not a medical or physical pain.
According to him, in tackling the disease, the association has done lots of work, especially in making themselves known and accepted by all.
The doctor also revealed that in order to raise awareness among Ghanaians about the disease, the association is taking the time to educate people about some of the disease’s symptoms, which they believe will go a long way toward preventing the disease from recurring.
Dr. Jabuni has also revealed that the association is advocating that every constituency in the country get a CT-Scan, a device that discloses whether or not one is infested with stroke.
He said the Association has met with the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Kingsford Sumana Bagbini, on their plans to get every constituency a CT-Scan, which will prevent patients with the disease from presuring the two or three devices in the system and will further prevent them from travelling afar off to seek medical treatment.
He said the response from the speaker was positive and that though they had no exact time line for starting the project, he anticipated that the project would kick start shortly.
Source :Yaa Amoakowaa Yeboah
