The Director of Health at the Shai Osudoku District, Reverend Dr Ebenezer Asiamah and the medical officers at the Ayikuma CHPs compound near Dodowa in Shai Osudoku district have expressed delight at an imminent improvement in the health care delivery at the CHPs facility, particularly in the field of maternity health care.

The extensive delight is in lieu of the receipt of a state-of-the-art Philips iU22 ultrasound scan machine that offers the best image quality possible through xMatrix transducers with the best aspects of single-crystal and 4D transducers.

Swiss nationals, Andreas Frick and his wife, Gritz Frick presented the modern ultra-scan machine to the Ayikuma CHPs compound near Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku district, through their friends in Ghana - Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Afriyie, Director of Communications at the Youth Employment Agency and a Presenter at Metro TV and Michael Amfo Afriyie, CEO of Riva Swiss Hospital at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.

The donation was in fulfillment of a pledge the Fricks made to officials of the health center on their tourism visit to Ghana early last year.

They had been impressed by the community healthcare nature of the CHPs compound but were concerned about the lack of requisite equipment especially in the area of maternal healthcare where the community members needed it most and as such promised to support the centre.

True to their words, Andreas Frick and his wife, Gritz, both who live and work in the health sector in Switzerland, delegated their local representative to undertake the gesture on their behalf.

Speaking at a brief ceremony to hand over the machine to the CHPs compound on behalf of the Fricks, Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Afriyie said the Swiss nationals had been warmly welcomed by the Mr. Kenneth Nartey, a Senior Research Officer in the Shai Osudoku District and his colleagues to the Shai hills and, as part of the tour, took them to some facilities since they were in the health sector.

According to him, they were touched and pledged their widow's mite to support mostly pregnant women in the communities.

"This gesture by Andreas and his wife is a significant contribution and a fulfillment of their pledge, which they hope will make a great impact at this facility", Mr. Afriyie told journalists.

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The District Director of Health Services at Shai Osudoku, Rev. Dr Ebenezer Asiamah expressed his gratitude for the donation and indicated that the facility has been losing out on patients especially pregnant women because it does not have a modern scan machine.

He was hopeful that this will bring life to the center and reduce the burden of antenatal healthcare on the Shai Osudoku District Hospital.

Dr Asiamah said the district was looking forward to express their appreciation in person in the near future to the Fricks.

"We are very grateful and we look forward to getting more", he said.

The midwife in charge of the Ayikuma CHPs compound Madam Wilhemina Dadebo and the entire staff were highly elated at the receipt of this machine and promised to keep it with utmost care and standard of maintenance to ensure that it lasts enough to serve a lot more people.

Mr. Kenneth Nartey, a Senior Research Officer in the Shai Osudoku District, speaking to the media promised that with the donation of this machine, they are all encouraged to support the CHPs compound to improve healthcare delivery in Ayikuma and the adjoining communities.

The donation saw in attendance Dr. Solomon Narh-bana, Senior Research Officer at the District, Isaac Tetteh, District Director of the Youth Employment Agency, Eugene Davis, Research Officer at the Parliament of Ghana, Officials from NHIA amongst others.

The Philips iU22 is a premium shared service ultrasound machine that offers the best image quality possible through xMatrix transducers that offer the best aspects of single-crystal and 4D transducers.

It also offers the top of the line image quality and features available for Radiology, OB/GYN, Cardiac, Vascular and even specialty imaging like MSK, Pediatric, and Elastography.

The iU22 has been replaced by the Epiq 5 but still maintains top of the line image quality.