MEDIDCL ASSISTANTS END SEMINAR AT KINTAMPO (PAGE 54, JUNE 28, 2010)

MORE than 200 practising medical assistants and students at the Kintampo Rural Health Training School (KRHTS) in the Brong Ahafo Region and their physician assistant counterparts from the University of Utah in the United States of America, have attended a seminar to update their knowledge on various health issues.
The participants treated topics, including Traumatology, Burn and Pain Management, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), Diabetes, Hypertension, Paediatric Dermatology, Urinary Tract Infection, Drug Development, Dermatology Emergency, Breast Cancer, Nutrition, Mental Health, Depression, Men’s Health Issues such as Prostrate Cancer and Impotence.
For about four years now, the KRHTS has been collaborating with the University of Utah to exchange ideas and build knowledge on varied health matters by organising seminars.
The theme for the seminar was, “Exchanging Ideas, Exploring Possibilities”.
Speaking at the end of the four-day seminar, the Director of KRHTS, Dr E.T. Adjase, advised the participants to go back to their various communities to share the knowledge they had acquired with those who did not benefit and also use the skills they had acquired professionally.
He urged them to use their values to transform the lives of the people in the communities and exhibit a high sense of professionalism humility but not pomposity.
He said the training school was established about 40 years ago to produce middle-level healthcare professionals to serve in the deprived communities, adding that medical assistants were found throughout the country providing invaluable healthcare delivery to the people.
Dr Adjase noted with regret that trauma cases were killing a lot of people in the country while most preventable accidents were also claiming innocent lives, adding that with the knowledge acquired from the trauma sessions, the medical assistants would be able to manage the situation in their respective areas.
Dr Adjase disclosed that in the quest to transform the KRHTS into a health college, the authorities had acquired about 3,000 acres of land to embark on expansion works, saying, “We all have a duty to protect our land from encroachment in the interest of posterity”.
The leader of the Utah team, Madam Nadia Miniclier, who is also the Director of Clinical Evaluation of the Physician Assistant Programme at the University of Utah, said clinical practice by medical assistants was a remarkable work and expressed the hope that the partnership between the two institutions would continue.
Dr Michael Magill, the Head of Family Health Division of the university, commended the participants for the enthusiasm they showed throughout the programme and called for the sustenance of the programme.