A five-day workshop to equip health professionals with adequate knowledge in handling emergency cases and to enhance medical services opened in Accra on Tuesday with a call on professionals to be abreast with early warning signs in emergency cases. The workshop, attended by health professionals across the country would also introduce participants to a new technology, known as the Early Warning Score, which would help them to recognize critically ill patients especially those with cardio respiratory diseases. The device is used in diagnosing patients during emergency cases to determine their level of risks and the kind of care required to save them. Dr. Ahmed Nuru Zakariah, the Director of the National Ambulance Service, said the device was an old technology in the Western world but had taken a longer time to be introduced into the country. He urged participants to always remember the rudiments in handling emergency cases to know the exact conditions of victims to enable them to save lives during critical moments. Dr. Irene Akua Agyepong, Director of the Greater Accra Health Directorate, noted that handling emergency cases was a major weakness in the health sector of Ghana. She said "Health professionals must acquire the needed skills and competence to help them to know when to walk and when to run." Dr. Agyepong said since human beings were the greatest assets of any nation, there was the need for proper care and quality health delivery service all the time. Topics to be treated include Paediatric trauma, body cavity injuries, oxygen therapy, basic life support, bleeding and shock, head injury, spinal cord injury, fractures, sprain, strain and orthopaedic massage. Source: GNA