MIDIVES EQUIPPED WITH LIFE-SAVING SKILLS (PAGE 11, FEB 16, 2010)

The Upper East Regional Health Directorate is equipping midwives in the region with life-saving skills as part of efforts to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths.
According to the Regional Director of Health Services, Dr John Koku Awoonor-Williams, available figures indicated that the region had witnessed a slow but steady increase in supervised delivery from 44 per cent in 2007, 49 per cent in 2008 and 52.3 per cent in 2009, adding that maternal mortality increased from 27 in 2008 to 33 in 2009.
He said although 31 of the deaths were audited, it was not enough to only audit the deaths but rather make sure they did not occur, stressing, “It is totally unacceptable for a woman to lose her life while giving birth,” adding that maternal mortality was an important measure of the effectiveness of the health delivery system.
The regional director announced this at the 2010 annual regional health sector performance meeting at Bolgatanga.
The theme for this year’s meeting was “Upper East Region at 50 years: Achieving Better Health and Wealth Creation” and it provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to take stock of the performance of the health sector and identify the challenges hampering effective and efficient delivery of health services.
Dr Awoonor-Williams spoke about challenges facing the health sector in the region, and particularly mentioned inadequate human resource and infrastructural facilities.
He said the current doctor–patient ratio in the region was 1:34,000, adding that each of the current five district hospitals was still manned by a single Ghanaian doctor.
He was, however, grateful to the Cuban Medical Brigade for working closely with their Ghanaian colleagues to provide valuable services.
He said most people refused to accept posting to the region, while some staff applied to leave the region to other regions on a daily basis, with over 90 per cent of those requesting to leave being natives of the region who had the opportunity to be trained in schools in the region.
“Unfortunately, these requests are even facilitated by people in high authority who should rather help us retain our meagre staff,” he said.
According to him, over the past three years, out of the 19 doctors posted to the region, only one reported and out of the 57 newly qualified medical doctors, none chose posting to the Upper East Region.
Dr Awoonor-Williams said the directorate was still waiting for another batch of seven doctors and one specialist who were posted to the region two months ago.
He said as a first step in reversing the trend, the directorate, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), would conduct a needs assessment in the region during the second quarter of this year to help identify the gaps and find solutions to the problem.
He said in line with efforts to improve timely diagnosis and treatment, 34 health aides in the region were recently trained in basic laboratory diagnosis and posted to various health facilities in the region, with plans in place to train more health aides this year and provide the necessary logistics and equipment to enhance better diagnosis leading to better treatment.
Dr Awoonor-Williams announced that malaria continued to account for the highest number of out-patients department attendance and admissions and remained the main cause of death mostly in children under five years.
He mentioned that the abandoned polyclinic for the Bolgatanga Municipality would be reactivated and completed for operation to augment the regional hospital.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, commended the health workers for their hard work in spite of the many challenges confronting them and assured them of the government’s continuous support.
He disclosed that as part of measures to address the inadequate human resource challenges, all municipal and district assemblies had been directed to shortlist and comprehensively sponsor at least five medical students, as well as other health personnel, yearly as a way of ensuring the availability of staff for an efficient and reliable health service delivery in the region.