The Rotary Club of Wa has extended its humanitarian services to the Wa Central Prisons with the donation of assorted food items and medicines for the infirmary worth about GHS 49,000.00.
The items, which included five (50kg) bags of rice, four (100kg) bags of corn, and assorted medications, were for the upkeep of the inmates at the facility to help reduce their health and feeding constraints.
Aside the donation, the Club also organised free health screening – hepatitis B, Diabetes, Body Mass Index (BMI), and eye screening – for the inmates and some officers of the Wa Central Prisons.
128 inmates and officers were screened, eight of them having normal eyes, 95 had pathological issues related to medication, and eleven had Refractive Errors (issues relating to eyeglasses).
Also, two had Cataract, 12 had Glaucoma and Retinal issues, and eleven inmates were reactive to HBsAg (hepatitis).
The Club donated the items in partnership with Rotary E-Club of Ghana, Endswell Pharmacy Limited in Bolgatanga, Kengbe Pha
rmacy in Bole, Nuoyong Empire Hotel, and Homeland Clinic in Wa with Support from Bill Laboratories, Bliss Eye Care, GT Bank, and individual donations from both Rotarians and non-Rotarians.
The support was onthe theme for the 2023/2024 Rotary year: ‘Create Hope in the World’.
Speaking during the screening and donation exercise in Wa, Mr Agambire Alhassan Inusah, the President of the Rotary Club of Wa, said the intervention was at the request of the management of the Wa Central Prison.
He expressed gratitude to the partners and supporters for making the initiative by the Club a success to impact the lives of the inmates.
Rotarian David Osei Amankwah, the District Governor (DG) of Rotary District 9104, pledged to donate an additional ten bags of rice on his own accord to the Wa Central Prisons saying, ‘With what I am seeing here it is clear that a lot of help is needed’.
He said the goal of Rotary was to impact lives, especially those in vulnerable situations adding that: ‘We have reviewed certain things, a
nd we will deliver on our takeaways as we have discussed.’
The DG tasked the Rotary Club of Wa to nurture its relationship with the Wa Central Prisons for the benefit of the inmates at the prison.
Rotarian Rudolph Adageba Kantum, Assistant Governor (AG) of the Rotary District 9104, a medical Doctor, who took part in the screening process, was alarmed by the level of malnutrition among the inmates.
Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Mr Joseph Damolbil Miyella, the Commander of the Wa Central Prisons, commended the Rotary Club for the intervention and said the prison was challenged with inadequate food, medications, and accommodation.
‘Actually, feeding is a big challenge in the Ghana prison service in the country, not only in the Wa Central Prisons but the entire prison service’ he indicated.
He said, for instance, the prisoners were fed on GHS1.80 a day, which was insufficient for them while the limited accommodation caused overcrowding in the rooms.
‘If they are not properly fed, they fall sick, and s
ometimes the little resources that we have, we have to use them to send them to the hospital for treatment and sometimes when we go there, it is nothing but poor feeding’, he explained.
Mr Miyella said to reduce the challenge of feeding they had cultivated gardens as sources of vegetables to feed the inmates.
He indicated that though the Wa Central Prisons had a 120-acre farm at Baayiri in the Wa East District, they were not able to cultivate it due to logistical challenges including the breakdown of their tractor.
The Prison Commander, therefore, appealed for the benevolence of individuals and organisations to fix the tractor or acquire a new one to enable them to cultivate their farm to feed the prisoners.
Source: Ghana News Agency