GHS grants referral mandate to Balawa TBS center

Mr Clement Dassah Nong-Traditional Bone Setter

The Balawa Traditional Bone Setting (TBS) Center in the Wa West District can now refer patients to any hospital in Ghana for secondary bone treatment.

Mr Clement Dassah Nong, the Traditional Bone Setter at the facility, mentioned in an interview with Info Radio that the facility operates in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service.

In an interview with Info Radio in the community, Mr Dassah Nong mentioned that he has gained additional skills and knowledge from the Ghana Health Service in addition to the training he received from his mother, Madam Kuroi Batual, who is popularly known as "Doctor Gyedar".

The Balawa Bone Setting Centre is a traditional healing facility that specializes in providing free treatment for simple and complex fractures. Similar to other traditional bone setting centers in the Upper West Region, the facility serves as the primary and final destination for hundreds of fracture victims from rural areas within and outside the region.

“We have collaborated with bone specialists at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu and Tamale; we have links, and they have given me referral forms to refer cases that cannot be handled at my level here. I can refer cases from this facility to any health facility in Ghana. I have received a lot of training from the Ghana Health Service,” he stated.

In spite of this, the centre is bedeviled with numerous challenges including the lack of proper accommodation for patients. Mr Clement indicated that they have to combine three patients in a single room, and others have to stay in other houses in the community.

“Our current challenge is accommodating patients. We need to house two or more patients in a single room. Some patients are being kept outside the center, which complicates our work. We are appealing to the government and benevolent individuals and organizations to come to our aid.”

Some of the patient's caregivers have shared their experiences while appealing to kind-hearted individuals and organizations to provide additional rooms for accommodating patients.