Dr Anthony Ofosu, the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), says the service has put in place systems and measures to protect the country against the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19).
He said the country has recorded nine suspected cases of the virus, but that all the suspected cases were tested negative of the virus. Dr Ofosu said this at the 2019 Upper West Regional Annual Performance Review Conference of the GHS which was aimed at assessing the health sector performance.
It was also to enable the sector players to identify gaps in health service delivery and to chart strategies towards bridging those gaps to improve service delivery to the people while sustaining the gains made over the years. Representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, (JICA), UNICEF and Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) among others attended the three-day conference held under the theme: “Improving maternal and newborn care through quality healthcare delivery”.
Dr Ofosu identified training of Port Health staff to screen passengers at the Kotoka International Airport and training of medical teams at the Tema and Ridge hospitals to handle suspected cases of the COVID-19 patients as some of the measures being taken to prevent the virus from entering and spreading in the country.
He said all Regional Health Directors are on the alert regarding the COVID-19 virus and they have activated and trained rapid response teams against the virus with some isolation centres identified.
On other issues, he said although the country has made great strides in reducing maternal and neonatal deaths, the slow pace of the reduction poses a threat to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal on health.
The 2019 Peer Review Report for the Upper West Region, presented at the conference, pegged the doctor-population ratio at one doctor to 14, 310 people in 2018 and one doctor to 13, 000 people in 2019 as against a national target of one doctor to 7,500 people.
Dr Ofosu said they would create incentives for critical health officers who accept postings to deprived areas or establish a rational system for posting staff to deprived areas in order to revamp the sector and to surmount the numerous challenges in the sector.
Kuoro Abu Diaka Sakube Ninia, who chaired the function, said reducing maternal mortality depended, not only on increasing access to healthcare but also improving the quality of the care that was delivered.
“Our purpose here today and any other purpose of which assessment and evaluation are to be done must seek to improve the quality of clinical care and to improve utilization of that care”, he said.
Kuoro Ninia said there is a need for health service providers to check their attitude towards clients and urged them to be professional in the discharge of their duties.
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