The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has expressed concern about the country’s rising number of hypertensive cases.

The Service is particularly worried about events in the past year where many cases were recorded.

In the Bono East Region alone, there were 21,790 cases in 2021, as against about 18,000 in 2020.

Speaking to JoyNews’, the Deputy Director of Clinical Care at the Regional Directorate, Helena Gozo, only a few have been reported, even with the huge number.

“You and I know that many people don’t come to the hospital, so we have just a few people,” she noted in an interview with Anass Sabit.

She further lamented the lack of regular checkups by a section of Ghanaians, making it difficult to manage the non-communicable disease.

“It is a complicated issue, and many people walk about with high blood pressure without knowing it because the disease doesn’t present any symptoms.

“You think you are fine. Probably with a few headaches here and there, and they think they are okay, so they never go to check,” she explained.

Mrs Gozo also cautioned the lifestyle decisions of individuals.

“Hypertension is more common in urban areas because we live a very stressful life. You are in a hurry to make money, so you are doing so many things simultaneously without going to check whether everything is alright with you or not,” she said.

As the world commemorates World Hypertension Day, Mrs Gozo called on all and sundry to visit the nearest health facility to do a checkup and make it a regular habit.