The Association indicated that, lack of funding and investments in the health sector, is taking a toll on the quality of health delivery at various health centres in the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Tbjho2mLDRDdn4Uf3KP8tvkPli4cvOdr”]Currently, Ghana is investing 3.6 percent of its GDP in health services delivery, as compared to other countries in Africa like South Africa and Sierra Leone, who are investing 8.8 and 11.1 percent respectively.

Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the 25th Annual District Directors of Health Services Group Conference on the theme “Improved Decision Making at The Primary Care Level, Using Information Technology for Health Systems Strengthening”, the National President of the Medical Superintendents Group Of Ghana, Dr. Joseph Tambil, indicated that, the lack of funding in the health sector by successive governments has contributed to the poor state of health care system.

“The problems with the health system are many, however on our part, the key challenges that we have has to do with the funding gap. Health care funding in Ghana is such a huge problem, and it is not new. It dates back to the 80’s. Ghana is currently doing less than 5% of our GDP on healthcare. The countries that we are seeking to emulate; Cuba, United States and Britain, are doing not less than 12 %. Cuba is doing about 17 % of GDP, United States is doing about 15%, and Britain is doing about 12%.”

“We are doing less than 5 percent, so it means if we have to catch up with these countries, we have to triple our efforts so that we can catch up. We are doing a lot of innovation, but if that bottleneck of funding is not addressed, all our efforts will be derailed.”

He added that, most district health facilities in the country do not qualify to be hospitals as equipment being used in those facilities are below standards.

“The effects are everywhere for you to see. You go to any government hospital and the infrastructure is not suitable to be called a hospital. Very few hospitals in this country are qualified to be called district or even regional hospitals. The situation is so bad. The equipment we use  are about 20 years old. It is obsolete” he lamented.

“The human resource we have is not properly trained for delivery of health care in a modern or transitional society like ours. There are CHPSS compounds that are held under sheds and the community health officials who work in these compounds do not have anywhere to lay their heads and this is demotivating.”

Dr. Tambil therefore called on government to prioritize the health sector and invest heavily in the sector and not rely on donor funding from European countries.

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By: Nii Amartey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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KATH suspended emergency admissions following an acute shortage of doctors at the facility.

[contextly_sidebar id=”T0NvPXTeFgOcxTJEmZJacDCyOg003PCk”]This was captured in an internal memo issued by the directorate of surgery to the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital.

The memo stated that, management of the facility took the decision following an emergency meeting convened to review the impact of the shortage on their delivery.

Mr. Yankah, on Eyewitness News explained that, KATH’s decision would have far reaching implications, given its status as a “tertiary hospital.”

“This is going to be a big blow to healthcare delivery because Komfo Anokye is not just an ordinary hospital. It is a tertiary hospital. In fact it is linked to Korle Bu in terms of size. Now with its strategic location , in terms of being in the Central part of Ghana makes it such that we have patients moving from , North, South and West all heading towards Komfo Anokye and even sometimes from outside the borders of Kumasi or Ghana.

“The kind of special care that happens in Kumasi, no facility within the Ashanti Region will have the human resource and the equipment for these kinds of specialized care.”

Dr. Yankah expressed disappointment over the development, arguing that though there has been several meetings with key stakeholders to address the challenges facing health workers, no decision had been taken to permanently address these concerns.

“It is unfortunate we find ourselves in this situation. It should not have been there in the first place. That is the view of the Association. We have engaged the powers that be. That is the Ministry of Health, the Management of Komfo Anokye and the Ministry of Finance as well to bring an end to this situation.”

Aside the suspension of emergency care services at the hospital, Citi News has also found out that approximately 150 house officers [new doctors], who completed their rotation at the hospital have left leading to some challenges.

Sources say newly qualified doctors who are expected to replace them have still not received financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance to start working.

The absence of these junior doctors who form the backbone of the health-care delivery system at the Teaching Hospital, is said to be putting a huge strain on the few senior colleagues around.

Mr. Yankah asked the Finance and Health Ministries to “act quickly to ensure that if possible, financial clearance will be given for  doctors who are also idling at home to go and practice their profession and keep the system moving.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He said government had worked collectively to create safe and supportive environment, ensure access to appropriate information and ensure that health facilities provided goods and services such as counselling on mental health, nutrition, sexual and reproductive health to meet the SDG targets.

The Minister gave the assurance in Accra at the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop on Midwifery Services Framework on the theme: “Expanding Quality Midwifery Services for the Benefit of Sexual and Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Adolescent Health Services”.

The workshop is in collaboration with the United Nations partners, Ghana Registered Midwives Association and the USAID.

The framework is a tool developed by International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and partners to support the development and strengthening of midwifery services across countries, focusing on a quality midwifery workforce.

It also provides health system developers and planners, maternal and newborn health expert, policy makers with an evidence-based tool.

The Minister said government had over the years provided sexual and reproductive health services, including maternal and newborn health care.

Mr Agyemang-Manu noted that government was convinced about ensuring that access to health care was key enabling factor to improved maternal and newborn health and that was the need to sustain the National Health Insurance Scheme.

He commended all hard working health practitioners across the country for the immense role played in bringing relief and healthcare to Ghanaians.

“Government will remain focused and committed to implementing policies that will help improve the health sector as well as build capacity of the personnel to enable them deliver quality healthcare”, he said.

Mrs Jemima Dennis-Antwi, ICM Africa Regional Board member, said the workshop would identify areas in the delivery of sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health services of relevance to the country’s context towards achieving the SDG targets.

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Source: GNA

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Mr. Archibald Adams, Coordinator, Universal Access Healthcare Campaign (UAHCC), a local NGO, said the government  must remove all bottlenecks and ensure efficiency in the operations of the national health insurance scheme (NHIS).

He was speaking at the opening of a day’s capacity-building training workshop held for members of the organization in Kumasi.

The goal was to adequately equip them to lead the effort at getting more people registered for the NHIS.

Mr. Adams said the expectation was that the Akufo-Addo Administration would make good its election campaign promises on health – work hard to break down barriers to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-Three.

He underlined the need to expand health insurance enrolment to assure everybody of access to primary healthcare.

He noted that the present situation where under 50 per cent of the population had registered for the insurance and said the figure necessarily should grow.

It must not be lost on anybody that when the country’s basic healthcare system became strengthened, there would be drastic reduction in the outbreak of communicable diseases and other health problems, he added.

Dr. George Amofah, former Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), urged equitable distribution of resources to the facilities for their smooth running.

He said they should be supplied with the required equipment, kits and consumables to treat the sick and save lives.

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Source: GNA

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Mubarak Bala was released because of a doctors’ strike which has seen many patients discharged, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) said.

He was held against his will for 18 days after his Muslim family committed him to the hospital in Kano, it said.

Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim and adopted Islamic law in 2000.

The IHEU said Mr Bala, a chemical engineering graduate, was freed on Tuesday but news of his release was not made public until he was in a secure location.

“There are still deep concerns for Mubarak’s safety in a part of the country where accusations of ‘apostasy’ can be deadly,” the charity said in a statement.

After the 29-year-old was admitted to a psychiatric ward at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, he sought help from the hospital via email and social media, until his phone was confiscated, according to IHEU.

Mr Bala, who was medicated during his stay, said he had no desire to take further legal action and thanked those who had campaigned for his release, the statement said.

“To those who have made threats against me, I urge you to reason and learn to tolerate opinions other than yours,” he is quoted as saying by the charity.

When Mr Bala was first detained IHEU said his family had asked a doctor if he was mentally ill because he had told relatives that he was an atheist.

Despite being told that he was not unwell, Mr Bala’s family then went to a second doctor, who declared that his atheism was a side-effect of suffering a personality change, the group said.

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Source: BBC

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