By Bernice Bessey
About 200 police officers, made up of men and women, were freely screened of blood pressure, blood glucose, and their Body Mass Index (BMI) in a nine-hour exercise by the Alive Health Check.
Alive Health Check is one of the newly created modules under the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) programme.
Last week Tuesday’s health exercise was in the quest to bring healthcare services delivery to the doorsteps of the security services in the Greater Accra Region.
Mr. Fred Frimpong, National Coordinator for Alive Health Check, said the Police Service was the first port of call under its Security Service Screening Exercises, because of the critical role they play in society.
He underscored the important role the police play in society, hence the need “to ensure that they are fit and strong to maintain law and order, apprehend offenders, detect crime, and maintain internal peace and security in the country.”
Mr. Frimpong noted that because of the hectic day-to-day activities of police personnel, it had become very difficult for them to regularly check their health status.
“When the officers of the Service are healthy, the nation’s security was guaranteed, since they become productive in their line of duties,” he added.
He further asked the officers to do regular health checks to ensure that the country had a healthy security workforce for national development.
“The objective of Alive Health Check is to sensitise Ghanaians to be conscious of their health status, and also bring basic health care services to the doorsteps of every Ghanaian, including the security agencies,” he added.
According to Mr. Frimpong, the screening exercise would be extended to all other public institutions in the coming months.
The police service on their part expressed their gratitude to Alive Health Check and lauded the organisation for the exercise.
The Police Public Relations Director, DSP Cephas Arthur, said the exercise was beneficial because the police hardly have time to undergo regular checkups.
He called on Alive Health Check to embark on the screening exercise quarterly, to enable the officers know their health status in order to function effectively on the field.
Some police officers, who spoke off camera, admitted that the exercise was timely, and called on the module to include the screening of other diseases such as Hepatitis B and HIV-AIDS to the list of services.