710 food vendors screened in Dorma Central Municipality

The Dormaa Central Municipal Environmental Health Unit has screened 710 food vendors to prevent the incidence of infectious diseases like Typhoid fever and hepatitis for the health and safety of residents in the municipality.

Typhoid fever and hepatitis remained two commonest contagious diseases among food vendors and consequently a dangerous health hazard to the consuming public, especially consumers of wayside food, Mr Justice Owusu Ansah Pobee, the Municipal Environment Health Officer has revealed. 

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region about the core functions of the Unit and the issuance of certificates to food vendors, Mr. Pobee explained the Municipal Assembly contracted a laboratory technologist to partner a medical doctor to screen them last year.

He said the essence was to determine whether some of them carried any communicable disease so that the necessary steps would be taken to prescribe cures for them in the interest of the public.

After receipt of the report from the laboratory technologist, the medical doctor subsequently prescribed suitable medication for the treatment of those food vendors who had peculiar diseases including typhoid and hepatitis, Mr Pobee stated.

He said after the screening exercise, those without any contagious disease were issued with certificates to operate.

Mr. Pobee said the exercise was supposed to be conducted every six months because of the sensitivity of the subject, bothering on diseases, people’s health and food vending being a major public health concern.

He said court summons were served on persons who refused to heed the invitation to participate in the screening exercise to let them answer for their actions.

Mr. Pobee cited “recently a man who operates tomato processing on small scale at Dormaa-Ahenkro was stopped from operating and later invited to respond to queries because of operating in unhygienic environment”.

He said the Unit cautioned such businesses, irrespective of their size, to operate in a clean environment but when they proved unyielding, court action was instituted against them.