PRESBY CHURCH INAUGURATES AREA HEALTH BOARD (PAGE 32)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga

A 17-member Area Health Board of the Northern Presbytery Health Services of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) has been inaugurated to oversee the activities of institutions under the church’s health activities in the region.
The Northern Presbytery Area Health Board is one of the four being operated by the church, and is responsible for all health activities undertaken by the church’s health institutions.
The functions of the board are setting objectives to be translated into annual operating and financial plans, monitoring of performance, planning and creation of new health institutions in the respective areas of operation and making of recommendations to the PCG Committee of Health and Environment.
Members of the board, chaired by Rev Kwesi Addai Naami, the Northern Presbytery Chairperson of the PCG, include Rev Fei Hyeamang, the District Minister of the PCG, Bolgatanga; Chief Edward Abugbilla Atia of the Ghana Health Service, Bolgatanga; Dr Mensah Afful, the Builsa District Director of Health Services; and Mr Abubakar Azinim of the Bawku Traditional Council.
The rest, who are ex-officio members are the Medical Administrator of the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, the Principal of the Bawku Nurses’ Training College, the Presbyterian Health Co-ordinators for Bolgatanga, Salaga and Bawku, the Bawku Hospital Accounts Manager and a Legal Practitioner, Mr Amok Afoko.
The Clerk of the General Assembly of the PCG, Rev Herbert A. Oppong, who inaugurated the board, said currently the PCG was the third after the government and the Roman Catholic Church in the provision of health service in the country.
He said the biggest challenge facing the church was the increasing demand for health services by the rural communities within which the church operated in the face of dwindling donor support.
“Time and again our partners have been drawing our attention to their inability to generate funds for our health and HIV/AIDS programmes. The alarm bells have been sounding louder of late, and it is about time the church identified new sources of funding for its health programme,” he said.
Rev Oppong, therefore, implored the board to assist the church in that regard.
He said with the inception of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the various health institutions of the church were improving their internally generated funds.
The General Assembly Clerk commended members of the board for accepting the responsibility in the face of the many challenges and expressed the hope that they would prove equal to the task.
On behalf of the board, Rev. Addai-Naami was expressed appreciation to the church for the trust reposed in them and promised to excel in the discharge of their duties.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Bolgatanga, Mr Isaac Nsor Amoah, in a speech read on his behalf, thanked the PCG for its great contribution towards health care in the country as a whole and the region in particular.
“But for the conflict in Bawku, the Presbyterian Hospital could be described as a regional hospital because of the specialised services it provides, not only for citizens of Ghana, but also for people from the neighbouring countries,” he said.