An aspiring Assemblywoman for Old Estate East in the New Juaben Municipality of the Eastern Region, Rebecca Oforiwaa Darko, has underscored the need for Ghanaians to go for regular health check-ups, to enable them to know their health status.

According to her, it would offer them the opportunity to treat diseases early to save costs and become healthy to increase productivity.

The aspirant, who is well known in the area as 'Abena Payase' made the call when she organized a free health screening and registered over five hundred residents under the National Health Insurance Scheme at Old Estate, her electoral area.

Speaking to the electorates and beneficiaries of the health screening, she mentioned that she wasn't embarking on the exercise not only because she needed the support of the electorates.

"I am not only doing this because I need votes, but it is to create the awareness on the need to check their health status regularly to forestall unexpected sickness and untimely deaths” she said.

A Senior Physician Assistant with the St. Joseph's Hospital in Koforidua, Franklin Nartey, who led a team of healthcare professionals to conduct the screening said the exercise aimed at diagnosing health challenges, easing the cost of accessing healthcare as well as strengthening community bonding.

"It is important that Madam Becky undertook this endeavour. People sometimes fall sick when they could have easily averted it. We all have to be interested in our health issues because in recent times people are falling sick, and some are also dying. There are cases of strokes all over because of high and low blood pressure. These are things that can easily be managed with early detection and treatment" he explained.