Accra, June 16, GNA – The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) has engaged and sensitised about 2,000 of its management members towards the full adoption, ownership, and institutionalisation of the SafeCare Quality Improvement programme in all health facilities under CHAG.
The meeting with the healthcare facilities formed part of a major step of the programme’s Phase II project dubbed: “Developing Viable Business and Operational Models for Sustainability and Increased Impact.”
Dr Peter Yeboah, the Executive Director of CHAG, speaking at a forum in Accra, called for the sustainable adoption approach towards the ownership and continuous use of the SafeCare’s international standards quality accredited procedures in Ghana.
He said the SafeCare’s accredited international standards were regarded as the game-changers in quality-based healthcare delivery.
The facility managers were drawn across the country in seven clusters, including Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani, Ho, Wa, Tamale, and Takoradi.
Dr Yeboah stated that four years since CHAG embarked on the transformative journey of SafeCare Quality Improvement Standards, the facilities had witnessed a paradigm shift in the provision of healthcare to their patients and clients.
“Barely four years ago, we signed onto a social contract with PharmAccess, CHAG has been known over the years as the sanctuary of health, hope, and healing, a safeguard of quality in the entire health system.
“We’ve operated far too long on the perception level – the perceived quality of care. We’re trusted and respected, but in an era of evidence-based actions, we cannot thrive only on hope and faith. As vital as they are, we need to demonstrate that our service provision is backed by science, and therefore, SafeCare was introduced,” he stated.
“We wanted a structured, stepwise scientific way of measuring and benchmarking, identifying gaps, and come up with innovative ways to address the gaps identified to ensure quality,” Dr Yeboah pointed out.
The CHAG’s pioneering leadership had inspired and motivated the Ghana Health Service, the largest public healthcare provider in Ghana to adopt SafeCare quality standards as the surest way to achieving universal health coverage, Dr Yeboah emphasised.
He noted that the quality demonstrated through SafeCare was a value proposition for the entire health sector, which Ghana should boldly adopt and institutionalise for all healthcare providers and facilities.
“Thanks to CHAG’s pioneering role and innovative adoption of a community-based health insurance scheme, it was nationalized. Thankfully, we are now enjoying the benefits of the NHIS. Here, we are today with another innovative programme championed by a strong partnership between PharmAccess and CHAG,” Dr. Yeboah added.
Dr Yeboah, also a health policy, planning and financing expert, entreated CHAG member facilities to promote and guard the quality standards attained while striving for further improvement and excellence on their SafeCare journey.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about three million people die in the world annually from unsafe healthcare.
Also, one in every 10 patients is harmed in the process of seeking care, while an average of seven million people die in low- and middle-income countries due to unsafe care.
These statistics underscores the need for quality healthcare to reduce preventable deaths recorded in the various health facilities worldwide as a result of poor service delivery.
GNA