The report of the adjournment of Parliament on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, to end the First Meeting of the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the Parliament is expected to adjourn Sine Die on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, to end the First Meeting of the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
Presenting the Business Statement for the Eleventh Week ending Tuesday 5th April, the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, entreated all Honourable Members to continue to devote themselves to the scheduled business for the week under consideration to enable the House adjourn on the proposed date.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin used the opportunity to commend the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Bagbin, the First and Second Deputy Speakers, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu and Hon. Andrew Amoako Asiamah, respectively and all Members for their sacrifice and devotion to the business of the House during this First Meeting of the Second Session.
The House will sit on Monday and extend sitting to allow the House to finish other business and continue with the debate on the State of the Nation Address delivered by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday 30th March 2022.
The motion for the debate on the State of the Nation Address was moved by Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea, MP for Abuakwa South and seconded by Hon. Eric Opoku
The newspaper says that about 230,000 people of all ages in the country are blind, many of the cases from conditions that started from infancy.
The blindness prevalence rate in Ghana is 0.74 per cent.
Known in medical terms as Retinoblastoma, the condition is a malignant tumor of the retina that develops during childhood.
It is severer among children, especially those in rural areas, due to either lack of funds for medical care or access to appropriate health facilities to detect the disease early for treatment.
Other causes are abnormalities in chromosomes – thread-like structures located inside human cells that also contain a persons DNA.
To encourage early detection and treatment, the government has given approval to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cover the treatment of Retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye, which also kills many children.
The Head of Eye Care at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr James Addy, disclosed this when speaking at a Rotary outreach programme in Kumasi last Saturday for the training of midwives and nurses in the Ashanti Region on how to improve the survival rate of children with Retinoblastoma, since it is treatable, manageable and curable when detected early.
He said the Rotary Club of La East, Accra, in partnership with the GHS, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), had already trained many midwives and community health nurses across the country in the early detection of Retinoblastoma.
The support formed part of Rotary’s contribution to improving eye care in the country, he said.
The Graphic also reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has announced a halt in the issuance of 48-page passport booklets.
The Ministry in a press release said the halt was due to a surge in demand for the 48-page booklets and continuing supply chain challenges.
The release added that the passport office will until further notice issue only 32-page booklets to applicants that have requested the 48-page booklets.
“The applicants who have applied for 48-page booklets do not need to submit another application for 32-page booklets. The conversion will be done at no further cost to such applicants,” the statement said.
“In the meantime, the Ministry is taking appropriate steps to ensure that necessary refunds are made to qualified applicants in due course.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration reassures applicants for passports of the continuing commitment of the Passport Office to expeditious service and customer satisfaction. We thank the general public for their understanding. patience and support during this exceptional period”.
The Ghanaian Times says that a total of 346,120 Ghanaians have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS with 66 per cent being females while the rest are males, the Ghana AIDS Commission has disclosed.
Speaking at a media engagement programme organised by Christian Health Association of Ghana on Friday, the Senior Programme Manager for HIV/TB Community Systems Strengthening (CSS), Benjamin Cheabu noted that females were topping the chat of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the country.
The findings, he said, could be attributed to the fact that women get themselves examined more than the men and charged the male counterparts to get themselves examined.
Mr Cheabu indicated that there were more people living with the ailment and due to the stigmatisation many were afraid to accept their health status, hence spread the ailment.
He called on the citizenry to reduce stigmatisation in order for the country to achieve the 95-95-95 target by 2023.
“The 95-95-95 target is an agenda of making people know their status, for all those who know their status to get treated and for them to take their drugs to get the ailment to be virally suppressed in order for them not to spread it,” Mr Cheabu added.
GIK/APA