Management of the Gushiegu district hospital in the Northern Region has raised alarm over the sudden upsurge in motorcycle accidents in the area.
This is attributed to reckless riding on the newly constructed Yendi-Gushiegu stretch of the Eastern Corridor road.
Medical Superintendent of the Gushiegu District Hospital, Dr. Barhama Adam, brought this to the fore at a public forum in Gushiegu.
He called for sanity on the road to avoid needless accidents resulting in premature deaths. He further cautioned motorists against drunk driving and riding motorcycles without crush helmets.
Dr. Barhama Adam assured residents of Gushiegu Township and its satellite villages of quality healthcare delivery.
He said his administration is committed to deepen its advocacy on reproductive health and combating maternal mortality.
He commended his medical and paramedical staff for their devotion to saving lives, and urged them to eschew petty squabbles.
Challenges
Dr. Barhama Adam identified poor infrastructure, staff accommodation and inadequate personnel as some of the challenges management is bedeviled with.
“Our medical stores which ought to be the first point of call is deficient in some of the drugs we require, hence more often than not, we turn to the open market to augment what we get from the regional medical stores.”
On the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) claims reimbursement, he lamented that, “The single most heartbreaking challenge that confronts us as a service provider is the erratic reimbursement from the NHIS. This has brought in its wake apathy from suppliers who are no longer willing to meet our needs in terms of drugs and consumables.”
He decried the hospital’s casual workers’ lackadaisical approach to duty and called for behavioral change.
“Plans are far advanced to mechanize the casual staff as soon as financial clearance is given from the regional health directorate and I therefore use this opportunity to lay bare my frustrations at the poor attitude to work by these casual staff and to prevail upon them to live up to expectation in service delivery.”
“They should desist from reporting to work and vanishing back to town within minutes of reporting for this is killing the institution,” he bemoaned.
Dr. Barhama Adam appealed to residents of the district to develop the habit of donating blood.
“Our disturbing challenge is the poor attitude of some people towards blood donation. If this challenge is overcome, we should be able to reduce maternal mortality further.”
Maternal mortality cases
Dr. Barhama Adam revealed a sharp decline in maternal mortality which gained notoriety in the district over the years.
“As a matter of fact, we have brought down maternal mortality from seven deaths in the year 2012 to one, as at July 2016, and we shall continue to strive until we attain zero maternal mortality.”
He commended women of the area for their promptness in relation to antenatal attendance.
Two new clinics were built at Nabuli and Zamashegu to augment the district hospitals’ operations.
The Nabuli clinic was funded by the district through the Community Based Rural Programme (CBRP), to cater for the health needs of about 23,000 people living in 78 satellite communities.
The Zamashegu Clinic project was funded by the Northern Rural Poverty Reduction Programme (NORPREP).
As a referral health facility, the Gushiegu District Hospital caters for a population of over 128,000 and facilitating over 4,000 deliveries with over 36,000 attendances per annum.
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana