H.E Dr. Joseph N.SC Agoe and some officials from the High Commission in a pose with the investors
The Health, Education and Wellness Group, (HEWG), an Australian based Health and Education Consortium is making remarkable investments in the fitness education and health sector of Ghana and make Australia more visible on the Ghanaian landscape, with facilitation from the Ghana High Commission in Canberra.
The HEWG Team comprises Mr. Samed Brimah, an Anaesthetics Health Practitioner, Mrs Caterina Sestili, Co-owner and Chief Executive Office of Direct Care Australia, a Community Healthcare Company and Dr Rajesh Brijball, a Specialist Anaesthetist.
The Health, Education and Wellness Group has a dual purpose, namely commercial and humanitarian. The commercial wing of the Group is managing its investments while the humanitarian wing will donate hospital equipment to selected health facilities in Ghana on an as-needed basis.
In 2018, the Group registered a training Institute in Ghana, the Institute of Fitness Ghana(IFG), being the first step in a series of planned investment projects. The second phase is the provision of a world-class medical facility called the Texas Health Premium Hospital, currently under construction, under the auspices of 4CARE Enterprises Pty Ltd, Australia.
So far, an amount of USD576,000 has been invested into the project, located at Baatsona on the Spintex Road.
The Institute of Fitness is Ghana’s first health and fitness vocational education provider with networks that extend across West Africa, offering an internationally accredited Certificate in Personal Training. Institute of Fitness Ghana offers mentoring packages and a comprehensive career assistance programme, which includes access to Career Mentors and invitations to IFG’s FIRE (Fitness Industry Recruitment Events). The institute offers a blended delivery mode of study, combining on campus, online or both.
Dr. Brijball said the hospital project is in three(3) phases. The current facility, which is almost at completion, is phase one (1) and is designed to take care of Maternal and Childrens’ health. The next two (2) phases will be incorporating other medical specialities. He further said that project will in the medium term integrate a Clinical Nursing school and provide health education, focusing on vocational training for other medical allied specialities.
The aim is to upskill personnel from various medical fields such as patient support officers and health counsellors, with job creation as the focus. The training component is part of an ambitious plan, to deliver online education in partnership with 4EDU Australia Pty Ltd.
These will run alongside the health and fitness projects all in partnership with the Institute of Fitness Ghana to make various online vocational courses available to Ghanaian students. The health education will be delivered in partnership with the Government of the State of Queensland in Australia, currently supporting a needs analysis in the educational sector in Ghana, through Austrade Australia.
Objectives of the Health Education and Wellness Group
The HEWG seeks to elevate the delivery of health and wellbeing programmes for the Ghanaian people through the education and development of industry equipped health and wellness professionals, athletes and community mentors who can model excellence and positively impact population health.
Through their Health and Wellness Foundation Ghana (HEWFG), the Team intends to build the capacity and the capability of the health system infrastructure to help raise the standards of health and fitness in Ghana. This will be done through equipping, organizing, educating, and promoting the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle. In a similar vein, the Institute of Health, Education and Wellness Ghana (IHEWG), is dedicated to the delivery of best practice, evidence-informed training on exercise and movement science, health, nutrition, and food safety for the public good.
Deliberations with the HEWG highlighted the Importance of Private Public Partnerships in national development. Citing the example of Australia, the Ghana Government could partner with the HEWG in delivering appropriate skills in paramedics, laboratory technicians, anaesthetics technicians, which is the way Australia has gone to produce one of the best medical systems in the world.
The need for the right skills and knowledge to set up and operate medical equipment donated by various countries, associations, and individuals, some of which are high tech gadgets is important. According to Dr Brijball, his humanitarian work around the world has shown him that some of the modern hospital equipment donated to developing countries lack the requisite skills to operate them, thus leaving the gadgets as white elephants. This, if not checked, could constitute a major setback in the chain of health delivery.
Dr Brijball observed that all these skills could be delivered through vocational training and do not require Tertiary education. He added that should Government partner with the private sector in this venture, Ghana could draw on its priced assets of peace and stability to become a health and tourism hub in the West African Sub Region.