The Obuasi Mine of the mining company AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) is rethinking its health intervention to inhabitants in its catchment areas with a new strategy dubbed: "Mini-clinic initiative."It entails bringing the clinic right to the doorsteps of the locals while attending to their community's unique medical requirements.

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Following completion of the project, the mining company met the area's residents' critical health needs, providing benefits to around 1,000 residents of Nhyiaso in the Obuasi Municipality.The program is a component of the company's socioeconomic plan to encourage routine health screenings in rural areas amid worries about a potential rise in HIV, Hepatitis B, and COVID-19 infections.

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The initiative is being rolled out in collaboration with the AGA Health Foundation and the Obuasi Municipal Health Directorate with support from the Otumfuo Foundation.People's life matterThe Stakeholder Engagement Superintendent of the AGA, Edmund Oduro Agyei, said it was the priority of the company to put people's health in its host communities first to ensure a healthy community, adding "people's life matter.

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"He said the AGA Health Foundation was to provide quality healthcare not only to the mine employees and dependents but also to the people of Obuasi and neighbouring communities.Mr Agyei assured the AGA's continual support to host communities to ensure a sustainable future.

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The Senior Manager, Environment, of the AGA, George Owusu Ansah, said the AGA’s malaria control programme remained a flagship health intervention, which was making a significant socio-economic impact not only in Obuasi but in Ghana as a whole.

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He said the AGA's 16-bed capacity maternity block, which was handed over to the Obuasi Government Hospital recently, had positively contributed to improving maternal and child healthcare to the people of Obuasi.Mr Owusu Ansah assured that the initiative will open a new frontier of bringing quality healthcare to the doorstep of its host communities.

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He encouraged the people to take advantage of the initiative and present themselves for screening each time the clinic got to their area.DiseasesResidents were screened for HIV, hepatitis, toothache and oral health, hypertension, diabetes, eye, COVID-19 among others.The Principal Medical Officer, Occupational Health of the AGA Health Foundation, Dr Justin Dakora, urged the mine to leave the communities better than it met them.

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He encouraged the people to visit the hospital regularly to ensure their health was in better shape. 

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