The District Grand Lodge of Cape Coast has organised a free health screening for the people of Cape Coast and its environs.

The exercise which formed part of the third centenary anniversary celebration of the United Grand Lodge of England was to help members to know their health status.

It was also part of an annual charity programme, where the lodge members identify a needy community or institution in their catchment area and go to their aid.

The event coincided with the Oguaa Fetu Afehye.

Beneficiaries of the exercise were screened for hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, eye problem, stroke, malaria tests among others and offered free medication as well as education on the importance of living healthy.

More than four hundred people benefited from the exercise.

The health screening exercise was conducted by a medical team comprising doctors and nurses drawn from the health facilities within the Cape Coast Metropolis.

Brother Perry Mensah, a Senior District Grand Warden, said the Lodge organised a cancer awareness lecture and a health walk to educate the members on how to avoid diseases.

He said the Freemasonry is a society that thrived on three core pillars of service to humanity, humility to society and fairness to all.

It is concerned with the less privileged in society.

He said the lodge believes that when people are healthy, that could engage in economic activities to meaningfully contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

Brother Mensah said the lodge considered the health of an individual as paramount hence the delivery of an ultra modern mobile cancer scanner machine to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

Brother Ekow Freeman, Former Assistant District Grand Director, said the lodge annually embarks on health and education as well as social charity programmes as part of their core pillars of service to humanity.

Some of the beneficiaries of the exercise who spoke to the Ghana News Agency commended the Freemasons for the gesture and urged them to extend such effort to other deprived communities.