The Hon. Assistant Minister for Health Veena Bhatnagar led public consultations in Ba today as part of efforts to improve health service delivery across the country.
Held at the Ba Town Council chambers, the consultations saw the Assistant Minister respond to queries, grievances and recommendations on health services provided in Ba.
An area of concern that was highlighted during the consultations was the need to increase medical personnel in Ba. In response to this, Assistant Minister Bhatnagar said that the Health Ministry is working on addressing this issue. She also assured Ba residents that Government through her Ministry would address the issues presented at the consultations.
Earlier in the day she visited the Ba Mission hospital and commended the staff for their dedication and commitment to serve the people of Ba.
She also commended the hospital’s dedication to reduce non-communicable diseases (NCD). after she found out that the hospital bakes their own bread made out of wholemeal.
This is partially due to the unavailability of a fixed supply of bread from the local bakeries and an effort to address NCDs. The bread that is baked at the Ba Hospital is made from wholemeal flour and is sugar free.
Mrs Bhatnagar said, “I commend this initiative that has been ongoing since 2010 as this is one way to address NCD’s. It is important that we encourage healthy diets by incorporating such healthy foods instead of foods high in sugar, salt and fats.
“The Health Ministry has adopted the wellness concept which is a state of health closely associated to lifestyle. Every person has the responsibility to ensure overall good nutrition, proper weight control, exercise and controlling other risk factors such as smoking and alcohol intake,” Mrs Bhatnagar added.
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