By J. K. Nabary
Awutu Bereku (C/R), March 22, GNA – Dr Akosua Agyeiwaa Owusu-Sarpong, the Central Regional Director of Health Services has urged health directorates to remain vigilant to help prevent pandemics in the country.
She stressed the need for them to continue to evaluate their progress, identify gaps and strategise for better service delivery.
“We must remain committed to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and work tirelessly to ensure that no one is left behind”, she stated.
Dr Owusu-Sarpong made the call in an address read on her behalf, at the 2022 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Awutu-Senya District Health Directorate.
The meeting was on the theme: “Sustaining the gains in service performance through improved governance, and quality of care towards the achievement of the Universal Health Coverage: the role of stakeholders”.
She said achieving the UHC was a critical challenge that required the commitment and participation of all stakeholders.
Health was a universal need, and access to quality healthcare was a basic human right significant progress had been made in improving access to healthcare services in recent years, reducing mortality rate and improving health outcomes for many people around the country, she said.
“However, despite these gains, there is still much work to be done to ensure that everyone has access to affordable and quality healthcare services”, she noted.
Dr Owusu-Sarpong indicated that achieving UHC required a multifaceted approach involving all stakeholders to work together towards a common goal to provide essential health services for all persons.
She expressed confidence that by working together, significant progress would be made towards building a more equitable and sustainable healthcare system that could provide essential health services to all.
She indicated that improving governance was to ensure that there were strong, transparent, and accountable institutions that could effectively regulate and manage the healthcare system with the required adequate funding, effective planning and budgeting as well as mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the performance.
It was also to involve the communities and stakeholders in the decision-making process and make the healthcare system responsive to their needs and concerns.
Hence, healthcare providers must be held accountable for the quality of services they provided, and governments must also ensure that resources were provided.
The Regional Director informed the gathering that a lot had been done over the past years to strengthen the governance systems in healthcare institutions in the region, which had impacted positively the quality of care to clients.
“Many of our health care managers have also been provided with the necessary leadership and management skills to strengthen the governance system of our health care facilities”, she said.
Dr Owusu-Sarpong said maternal mortality had also reduced from 104 per 100,000 live births (LB) in 2021, to 90 per 100,000 LB in 2022, and attributed the feat to a variety of factors including improvements in healthcare services and access to quality maternal healthcare.
There was also improved education and awareness among women about their health and improved socio-economic conditions.
She warned the gathering of the outbreak of Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever which could be lethal and cautioned all staff of the Service to be on the alert for early detection and prevention.
GNA