HIV treatment centre opened at Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital
Comprehensive Care Centre, a treatment centre for People Living With HIV (PLWH) has been established at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Dr Roland Sowah, the Director of the Centre, said on Tuesday.
He said this when a team from the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) visited the centre at
Sekondi.
The team included Dr Angela El-Addas, Director-General of the GAC, Dr Richard Amenya, Director of Technical Services of GAC, Mr Peter Wondergem, Senior HIV Advisor of USAID and Madam Laurel Fain, Director of Health and Nutrition of USAID.
Dr Sowah said the centre which is a referral facility was constructed with support from the Global Fund and has a laboratory, pharmacy and a nutrition unit, among other facilities.
He said patients from the region including refugees patronise the centre which also caters for patients with other illnesses.
Dr Sowah said midwives have been trained to administer anti-retrovial drugs to pregnant women to help reduce mother to child transmission of HIV.
He said there are plans to set up points at refugee camps in the region because of the defaulting rate of anti-retrovial therapy among refugees who are often unable to go to the centre for their ration of drugs because of transportation costs.
Speaking to the press later, Dr El-Addas said the establishment of a Technical Support Unit in Sekondi was yielding good results and that the unit had come to stay and would be strengthened to make it possible to reach more vulnerable groups in need of HIV services.
Source: GNA