LACK OF FACILITIES HINDER QUALITY SERVICE DELIVERY (PAGE 26, JAN 6, 2010)

THE Efia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, the Essikadu and the Kwesimintsim polyclinics, as well as the over 45 rural and urban health centres in the Western Region lack the required hospital equipment and personnel to enable them to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital has not only outlived its usefulness as a regional hospital, but has also become very small and over burdened as a result of the volume of cases reported daily at the hospital.
The hospital is also in dire need of equipment for emergency care, while both the Essikadu and Kwesimintsim polyclinics need standard blood banks for surgeries.
Besides, the Western Region has been classified as one with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the country with about deaths per 100,000 live births.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Director of Health, Dr Ted Avotri, made these known at the second civil society health forum organised by the Western Region branch of the Coalition of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Health at Fijai near Takoradi.
He attributed the high maternal mortality rate to the fact that people in the region did not recognise the dangers of pregnancy and described the situation as very serious.
Speaking on the theme: “The role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in reaching the unreached”, he said, the CSOs could facilitate the process of institutional strengthening of the blood banks for the polyclinics.
Dr Avotri noted that the Ministry of Health alone could not meet those challenges and called on the CSOs to play their role in this direction.
He described the ‘unreached’ as the socially deprived and disadvantaged in terms of access to the basic necessities of life including education, health and social amenities.
“Our strategic focus on this category, therefore, implies among others the need to identify with, and enlist the participation of CSOs as beneficiaries, while at the same time, be their voice and play the link between the government and the people who need attention the most,” he explained.
He called on CSOs to make inputs to the development of appropriate health policies that empowered the poor, vulnerable and the marginalised.
He urged them to promote, support, undertake and participate in health research, as well as disseminate and educate beneficiaries on the findings and facilitate or participate in the process of implementing research recommendations and good practices.
The metropolitan health director further called on the CSOs to evolve, initiate and implement strategies for poverty alleviation, reduction of ignorance and prevention of diseases.
Dr Avotri requested the organisations to deliver health services such as distribution of family planning items and carry out health education on malaria, HIV AIDS, tuberculosis, the neglected tropical diseases, breast and prostate cancers, nutrition, diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle diseases.
He noted that through advocacy, the CSOs could also play a very significant role in influencing economic and political policies that impacted upon local development in general and the poorer sections in particular.
The Assistant Director and Head of Programmes for Community Care in the Western Region of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Duah, said the collaboration among the Coalition of NGOs needed to be supported since those in the provision of human services believed that without it, all their effort to improve the lives of the people would be in vain.
He expressed regret that there were more than 200 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the Western Region, but most of them operated without certificates or had not registered with the department.
Mr Agyemang Duah, therefore, advised those without certificates to regularise their operations with the Department of Social Welfare, since the collaboration would become meaningful only when they knew one another.
The Deputy Western Regional Director of Health in charge of Clinical Care, Dr Robert Sagoe, reiterated that the state of the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital did not merit the status of the region, particularly with the discovery of oil in commercial quantity, as many people would be attracted to the region and in case of emergency, the hospital would be found wanting.
The Western Regional Chairperson of the Coalition of NGOs in Health, Mrs Victoria Araba Danis, noted that accessing healthcare in the rural areas was very difficult and that the forum would go a long way to find solution to this problem.