ZOOMLION, a private refuse collection organisation has started training 60 young men and women it has engaged as sanitation guards.
Personnel from the environmental health and sanitation unit of the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating council are taking the trainees through the rudiments of refuse collection while zoomlion provides the logistics.
Addressing the trainees at Koforidua, the Programme Officer of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Samuel Akwei Allotey, stressed the need for cleanliness to eradicate diseases such as malaria, typhoid, dysentery and diarrhoea from our communities.
That, he said, would go a long way in reducing the burden on the health insurance scheme since such diseases could be prevented through clean environment.
Mr Allotey said although the sanitation guards would be in most of the communities in the region to ensure their cleanliness, the inhabitants should desist from loitering the environment with filth, adding that a clean environment should be the responsibility of all.
He asked environmental health officers and the sanitation guards to intensify public education on sanitation to keep the environment clean at all times.
The Regional Supervisor of Zoomlion, Mr Ernest Kusi said with the training of the guards, his outfit would be able to significantly improve refuse collection within its operational areas to make the communities tidy.
He said that had been the goal of zoomlion.
In a speech read on behalf of the Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo by the Regional Co-ordinating Director, Mr S. Bawa, he said the deteriorating sanitary situation in towns and communities in the region had led to the collaboration between zoomlion, a private entity and the local government and rural development, to address the issue.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo called on the people to adopt a lifestyle that would make the communities free from refuse.
He also solicited for support for the guards to enable them to properly discharge their duties.
The regional minister expressed his appreciation to zoomlion for its immense contribution towards the improvement of sanitation in the region.
No comments:
Post a Comment