Sege, (GAR), May 2, GNA – Inadequate health personnel and bad roads are impeding quality health care delivery in Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region.
Dr Seli Deh, the Ada West District Director of Health, who disclosed this, said lack of accommodation for health workers remained another key challenge.
However, he said despite the many challenges, health care service delivery had improved tremendously.
Quality Health, she explained, was a fundamental human right and a key indicator of sustainable development.
She said poor health threatened the rights of children to education, limited economic opportunities for men and women and increase poverty within communities and countries around the world.
“If pragmatic measures are not put in place, the Ada West District will be off-track in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3 of promoting health and well-being for all by 2030,” Dr Deh indicated.
The SDG 3 aspires to ensure health and well-being for all, including a bold commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases.
It also aims to achieve universal health coverage, and provide access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines and its integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals.
Addressing the maiden meeting of the Directorate at Sege, the District Capital, Dr Deh said the directorate had introduced a programme, dubbed ‘Family Meeting,’ to meet regularly with stakeholders to discuss ways to ensure affordable, accessible and quality health care delivery in the district.
This, she added, would greatly help the directorate to identify and tackle teething challenges, impeding quality health care delivery in the district.
Explaining the rationale behind the initiative, she underlined the importance of strengthening collaboration among all stakeholders as well as deepened multi-sectoral approach and increase engagement of potential allies across sectors to help locally develop new ideas for implementation which would contribute to quality health care delivery.
On the COVID-19 pandemic, the District Director called on the public to obey and practice the health safety protocols and guidelines put in place by the government and World Health Organization.
Dr Deh stressed the need to build stronger partnerships with health care NGOs and the private sector to raise awareness and increase access to targeted health services for citizens, especially women and their families.
She pleaded with the Ada West District Assembly to build Community-based Health Planning Service Compounds at deprived and hard to reach areas and to renovate existing ones in the district to help the rural people to access health care services.
In a presentation, Ms Irene Efo, the District Public Health Nurse, revealed stillbirths in the district reduced from 688 representing 25.3 percent in 2018 to 673, representing 23.9 percent in 2019.
It further reduced to 537 representing 18.3 percent in 2020.
Mr Sai Tettey, the Presiding Member of the Ada West District Assembly, complained about the negative working behaviour of some of the health workers in the district.
He called for improved customer satisfaction and loyalty through good relations between patients and health workers, especially nurses.
He urged the directorate to organise frequent in-service training on public relations and customer care and service quality for the health workers.
Created in 2012, by the legislative Instrument 2129, the Ada West District, which is among the deprived districts in the region, with a total population of about 74,544.
GNA