Health officials in the Ashanti Region have said the operations of the regional medical stores could soon grind to a halt if Government fails to take immediate steps in addressing the high indebtedness facing the facility.
According to officials, some suppliers have been reluctant to honor requests made by service providers for certain essential supplies for service delivery.
Officials say other suppliers have also resorted to legal actions against the Regional Health Directorate due to the indebtedness.
Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang disclosed this to Citi News during the 2017 Regional Annual Performance Review in Kumasi.
“The Regional medical stores is facing a lot of challenges and it is based on the supplies that we have. Most of the suppliers, because we are not paying them since Insurance is also not paying, they have refused to supply us with drugs. Some of them we owe so much. They have even taken us to court”, he said.
Dr. Tenkorang indicated that there was a need to settle the indebtedness to enable the suppliers to supply drugs for healthcare delivery.
Data Management
The Health Director stressed that the directorate chose the theme ‘Improving Data Quality- a Tool to Achieving SDG3’, because the Sustainable Development Goal three (SDG3), is aimed at the well-being of people which can be done properly by using data to know the progress.
He said the Directorate is emphasizing the importance of data, and will ensure that all health workers understand the importance of data to enable them gather, interpret and analyze to measure the progress towards the achievement of the SDG3.
H1N1 at KUMACA
He said the outbreak of Influenza H1N1 at the Kumasi Academy in the Asokore Mampong Municipality ended the year under review on a tragic note. He indicated that the Directorate was able to contain the situation in which 96 cases were recorded with four (4) deaths.
He added that the Directorate will sustain an exercise to screen all students in Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the region to avert a possible outbreak of any disease.
Deaths at Asanteman SHS
Dr. Tenkorang ruled out an outbreak of a disease at the Asanteman Senior High School after six students of the school died.
He said all the deaths occurred outside the school and they were of natural causes.
Challenges
He also mentioned inadequate funding, high indebtedness to facilities by the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) and the inadequate staff (doctors, Pharmacy Technicians) as major challenges the Directorate grappled with in 2017.
Some other challenges included poor distribution of facilities and staff, poor equipment, inadequate cars and limited office accommodation.
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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana