A 30-man medical team has arrived in the Upper West Region to provide free medical and surgical care to people in local communities. The team would spend four days to serve over thousand vulnerable residents, performing surgeries for some patients at the Tumu and Nadowli District Hospitals and the St Joseph Hospital at Jirapa. Drawn from all parts of the country, the team is expected to attend to backlog of cases to residents who because of poverty, cannot access basic healthcare. The APRIDEC Medical Outreach comprises twelve surgeons, gynecologists, optometrists, anaethetists and public health education specialists. Other members in the team are nutritionists and Oncologists. The team is led by ace Surgeon, Prof Francis Abatanga of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. The APRIDEC Medical Outreach has since the past three years provided free medical care to inhabitants of the three northern regions. It is the first time the team is operating in the Sisala West District’s capital, Tumu. Coordinator of the group, Mbabila Baba says the exercise is to reduce the burden of patients who have had to travel long distances to seek medical care in big hospitals. “There are a lot of challenges up north and in the hospitals, mostly specialists do not go to these areas so what we did was to mobilize ourselves, consultants, specialists cutting across all the health departments just give a day or two, twice a year to the needy and vulnerable in society.” “Our services are totally free. We do not charge a dime,”Mr. Baba noted. Officials of the Regional Health Directorate say the arrival of the team would ease the pressure on the region’s under-staffed health workers. Only 17 doctors are currently manning 174 health facilities which include six hospitals, 60 health centers, 6 clinics and 91 CHIP compounds. Deputy Director in charge of Public Health, Dr. Kofi Issah says the region will tap into the specialties of the team. He noted the presence of the team would afford more people access to specialists to attend to some medical conditions especially in rural areas where it is a challenge. “When something like this is brought to their door steps; at least it affords many more people the opportunity to be able to come and get their surgical and other medical conditions sorted out. Secondly it helps to build the capacity of the health staff who are already here,” Dr. Issah explained.