GAMA Does it Again

by KOFI AYIM

A 20-person delegation of health professionals under the auspices of the Ghana Association for Medical Aid (GAMA) embarked on a one-week goodwill mission to Ghana from January 19 to January 26, 2019. Led by Dr. Andrew Baddoo, a New Jersey–based nephrologist, the non-profit organization screened and treated about 260 orphans at the SOS Children’s Village, a non-profit entity at Tema, on January 20. Treatment of sinus infections, allergies, dehydration, malnourishment, glaucoma, and cataracts, among other afflictions, were administered to children and youth between the ages of two and eighteen. The visually impaired were not only diagnosed and treated but given free eyeglasses. All children were given de-wormers as precautionary measures against parasitic infections, known to be a major cause of malnourishment. In addition, each school-going child screened by the Mission was gifted with a free school bag. Administrators and caregivers at the non-profit orphanage also benefited from treatment by GAMA.

On January 21 and 22, the Mission moved camp to Ashiaman, a highly populated urban area in Tema municipality. Almost 950 patients received treatments of varying degrees, after which GAMA moved its services to historic Dodowa township on January 23 and 24. Almost 650 people from within and outside Dodowa were treated. On January 25, the Mission left the Greater Accra Region for the Eastern Region and set up camp at mountainous Aburi. More than 500 patients went through the professional hands of GAMA.

Diseases that were treated at Ashiaman, Dodowa, and Aburi included, but were not limited to, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle-skeletal pain, seasonal allergies, eye problems (glaucoma, cataracts, etc.), respiratory infections, skin ulcers, and wound care. Consultation and counseling for kidney failure and best practices in general health were also offered. Local volunteers from the Uriel Impact Generations collaborated with GAMA to facilitate service deliveries. As faith may have it, GAMA came to the rescue and paid for a prosthetic leg for a 22-year-old woman who had been struck by an 18-wheeler truck, mangling a leg in the process. She had come to request help from the Mission.

In all locations, GAMA donated up to six months’ worth of medical suppliers to patients it screened and treated. Surplus medicine was donated to local clinics to be given free of charge to patients. GAMA services, including medication, are free of charge. About two-thirds of the health professionals who embarked on the goodwill mission were non-Ghanaians. The Mission has since returned to the U.S., but work has already begun for the next and third trip of GAMA to Ghana.

Posted by on Feb 18 2019. Filed under Community News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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