Environmental, sanitation awareness among caterers low -Tapena
Sunyani (B/A), Jan. 17, Ghanadot/GNA - Mr. Francis
Tapena, acting Brong Ahafo Regional Manager of Ghana
Tourist Board (GTB), expressed worry about low awareness
on best environmental and sanitation practices among
caterers in the country.
He said consequently, the Board in collaboration with
Ghana Traditional Caterers Association (GTCA), has been
organising public awareness programmes and training for
their members to improve upon sanitation and hygiene,
Mr Tapena cited that the GTB has since 2004 trained an
average of 700 operators in the catering sector
annually.
He was speaking in an interview with GNA in Sunyani on
Thursday, after attending a meeting with stakeholders in
the catering sector drawn from the region.
The meeting organised by the Brong Ahafo Regional
executives of the association, was aimed at explaining
to participants the need for the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cover the yearly mandatory
medical health screening and related issues for members
of GTCA.
They included representatives from Sunyani Municipal
Health Directorate, Regional office of the NHIS and the
Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit of the Regional
Health Directorate.
Mr. Tapena said that the coverage would help minimise
the incidence of communicable diseases that could deter
customers in particular and the general public from
patronizing the services of Caterers.
He after the event “Qualified staff should in turn pass
on their skills to their untrained colleagues”.
Mr. Tapena appealed to the association to ensure that
members and non-members registered with the GTB to
enable them to obtain license so that they could benefit
from the Board’s training programmes.
He said the GTB has also been assisting the association
“to address the issue of multiplicity of taxes from
various government agencies which affect their cost of
doing business”.
Mr. Tapena praised GTCA for initiating plans to address
inequalities in the execution of the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He advised members of GTCA “to employ in the interim
persons who have already registered with the NHIS and
maintain core qualified staff”.
Mr. Casely Hayford Ababio, regional president of the
association, was dissatisfied that “the NHIS is not
covering the screening and its attendant requirements
which is a prerequisite for operating a catering
service”.
He said, however, that about 60-70 per cent of Ghanaians
including tourists patronised the services of caters on
daily basis.
Mr Ababio said “the inclusion of members of the
association on the benefit list will motivate a lot if
not all operators to undergo the mandatory screening,
which will eventually reduce if not overcome the menace
of communicable diseases that affects the health of the
people”.
Dr. David Opare, Sunyani Municipal Director of Health
Services, said that the NHIS was taking into account
public health interventions but only dealt with sick
people and emphasized that, “it is not yet ripe to
address public health interventions”.
He advised GTCA to ensure that members registered with
the NHIS and pay their social security contributions as
well, so that they would be automatically covered by the
scheme.
GNA
