Pay attention to Rehabilitative Care – OTAG to Government

The Occupational Therapy Association of Ghana (OTAG) on Monday launched the Occupational Therapy week celebration with a call on government to pay attention to rehabilitative care

Mr Paul Darlington Forson, Public Relations Officer of OTAG said government seems to be more focused on the biomedical approach to healthcare rather than the rehabilitative approach

“That makes it very difficult for us to work effectively, “he said stressing on the need for government to pay attention to rehabilitation services.”

Rehabilitative Health care services helps individuals that have been impaired due to sickness, injury, or disability to improve skills and functioning for daily living

These services may include physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and psychiatric rehabilitation services in a variety of inpatient and/or outpatient settings.

The weeklong celebration begun with a scientific conference on the theme: “Improving health and wellbeing: the Occupational therapy perspective”.

Ms Joana Nana Serwaa Akrofi, an Occupational Therapist, in a presentation on the topic: Occupational Therapy Early Intervention: A descriptive study, said there was the need for family centred occupational therapy services at a very early stage in a child with disability’s life

“The best places to carry out occupational therapy interventions is in the natural setting, the home, the child’s school and during play time,” she said

Other activities lined up for the week long celebrations includes awareness creation campaigns in schools and churches and an outreach programme to screen people in Okatabanman Society in Adentan, a suburb of Accra.