By
Felix Engsalige Nyaaba
Stakeholders on Environment and Health in Oil and
Gas development in Ghana on Wednesday held a consultative meeting to explore
strategic Health Impact Assessment (SHIA) and called on government to address the
pressing health challenges facing the country's oil and gas development plan.
According to the stakeholders, the risk associated
with oil and gas exploration was huge that government needs to take both short
and long long-term strategic plan and other proactive measures to protect the
health of the citizens.
The meeting which was been organized by the
Occupational and Environmental Health Unit of the Ghana Health Services (GHS) in
conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), was aim to generate a
comprehensive review of human risks associated with different development scenarios
for oil and gas sector as well as chemical spills, changes in communicable
disease patterns and workplace based accidents.
In his welcome address, the Acting Director General
of Ghana Health Services, Dr Erasmus Agongo said the impact of oil and gas on
human development calls for better attention.
“It has become clear that the Ghana Health Services
would be the focal point when there are health issues affecting the people,” he
said.
He said the Ghana Health Services was concerned with
the environmental and social impact assessment of the oil find and expressed
the hope that at the end of the forum the GHS would be presented with guidelines
and support that reflect the collective views of participants in a consensual
manner.
He further asserted that the Oil and gas development
has different dimension which have serious impact on human live and the laws on
health safety needed to be reviewed.
The Minister of Health, Ms Hanny Sherry Ayitey, in a
speech read on her behalf said it was expected that the health sector and for
that matter the ministry of health will be
responsible for monitoring the performance compliance on health related issues
in the oil and gas industry to safe workers and the environment.
She urged the agencies represented at the consultative
meeting to collaborate closely and to harmonise the position of all stakeholders,
saying they have the same activities being undertaken by different agencies.
Dr Edith Clark, Program Manager of Occupational and
Environmental Health Unit of GHS, said the meeting was to develop joint
recommendations that could lay the groundwork for a long-term strategic plan
for Ghana Health Services, which could be considered and adopted by the
government of Ghana for implementation.
According to her, though much have been discussed, the forum was also to seek support to identify
specific role that stakeholders could
play in the oil and gas development in the country, adding that it would
further afford the stakeholders the opportunity to identify interventions and
response capacities
The State institutions and other agencies that
participated in the consultative meeting were the Ministry of health, Ghana
Health Services, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), the Petroleum Commission and the World Health Organisation
Ghana currently has no comprehensive health, safety
and environment policy which would provide standards or guide to be adhered to
by industry.
What exist now, are pieces of out-dated legislations
and regulations such as the Environmental Protection Agency Act (Act 490), Mining
Regulations Act 1970 LI 665 and Factories, Offices and Shops Act, LI 328 which
are sector focused and therefore cannot be enforced across board.
No comments:
Post a Comment