Dr. Barbara Ayesha Anawana Karbo, an Emergency Medicine Physician, has said keeping first aid kits on hand for emergency situations to protect the health needs of employees, enterprises, and institutions is a good practice.
Dr. Karbo, who is also the Head of the Accident and Emergency Department at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema, said businesses must consider their employees’ health needs by designating a health corner with first aid kits and a committed officer in charge.
Dr. Karbo gave the advice at the weekly ‘Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! A Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting communication on health-related topics and setting the medium for the propagation of health information to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy.
‘Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! is a public health advocacy platform initiated by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.
Speaking on the topic of ‘First Aid at Home and Basic Life Support,’ Dr. Karbo emphasized that because each family was unique and had unique needs, such as allergies, medications, and medical conditions, it was vital to design the first aid bag.
‘What you need to know is your family; you have a child; children will catch viral infections and get fevers, so paracetamol syrup and sypocitrate; if the child has asthma, you have a spare inhaler,’ she said, emphasizing the need for a first aid kit at home.
It was also emphasised that having a comprehensive first aid kit on hand allowed one to respond quickly and efficiently to any injuries or accidents that may occur at home before travelling to the hospital for a thorough medical assessment.
She highlighted that parents had the right to request an additional prescription for any medication their children regularly took, especially children with asthma or any allergies.
Source: Ghana News Agency