The Professional Patriots of Ghana (PPG) has organized health screening and livelihood empowerment exercise for over 3000 people in the Yagaba-Kubori constituency in the Northern Region.

PPG, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), undertook the exercise in collaboration with Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mustapha Yussif, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the 2016 general elections in that constituency.

Shortly before the team left Accra for Yagaba-Kubori, Deputy Executive Director of PPG, Eric Nartey Yeboah, told the media that the core mandate of the group was to influence government policies to focus on addressing inequality and to help the impoverished people in society.

“We are professionals, we need to give back to society. These people you see there could have been better than us, but the system failed them, we need to come to their rescue,” said Mr Nartey.

A few months ago a team of experts from PPG, lead by Miss Abigail Nana Ama Addo, the outreach coordinator for PPG, were despatched to the constituency to conduct a needs assessment of the people.

The PPG team said they settled on health screening and the livelihood empowerment for the Northern Region town because these two were the main issues affecting the people.

The team identified malaria, hepatitis B, typhoid fever, diabetes and snake bites as the main health challenges of the residents.

Medical drugs estimated at over Gh¢15,000 were distributed freely after the health screening.

The leader of the medical team of PPG, Mr. Anabi Issah, was overwhelmed by the numbers that came out for the health screening.

He called on government to prioritize health in deprived areas by creating avenues for easy access to health facilities and posting medical personnel to these underserved areas.

The chief of Loagri, where the screening took place, Sulaimana Bature, welcomed PPG to his jurisdiction and thanked the group for considering his area for such an important exercise.

Assembly Member for Loagri, Alhassan Abu, was also happy that PPG had come to their rescue.

He mentioned that the exemplary work of PPG must be emulated by other civil service organizations.

"If you go to Accra, tell them to stop the hate speech on Radio. They should come to the countryside, the real work is here, they should learn from you and leave their comfort zones" he added.

PPG presented boxes of caked soap, detergent, napkins, basins, buckets, rechargeable lamps, and many others to some pregnant women.

At Yziesi, the team trained training 1,000 people, mainly women, in soap making and other skills.

Head of livelihood empowerment at PPG, Nana Yaa Afratima Peprah, said the exercise was the first shot at poverty in the area.