By Erica Apeatua Addo
Tarkwa (W/R), August 12, GNA – Mrs Wilhemina Tiwaa Duah Morttey, Municipal Director of Health Services in Tarkwa Nsuaem, says the Network of Practice (NoP) introduced by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has yielded significant improvement in health care delivery.
Through this initiative, referral cases, Outpatient Department (OPD) attendance and antenatal care in 2023 increased in most facilities within the municipality.
Mrs Morttey explained that “NoP is a group of facilities (public and private) in a specified geographic area connected to each other functionally to maximize efficiencies.
In Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality we have three networks; Benso, Iduapriem and Tarkwa Banso”.
Outlining more successes on the NoP during the directorate’s 2024 mid-year performance review meeting held recently in Tarkwa, she said twenty-one cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) cases were identified and the people have since been put on antiretroviral medicines.
According to her, referral system from Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) to health facilities has improved, alleviated pervious concerns and encouraged TBAs to refer cases promptly.
“We have Identified eight traditional birth attendants in Benso, Iduapriem and Tarkwa Banso networks, to foster collaboration, discuss referral system improvements and strengthen the link between traditional practices and modern healthcare” She indicated
Mrs Morttey revealed that chemical sellers now actively call on health facilities for prescription enquiries to ensure that clients received accurate information about medications, adding “chemical sellers have referred 14 cases to health facility since the inception of the NoP. This has contributed to early diagnosis and timely healthcare interventions”.
In addition, she said the directorate has engaged eleven chemical sellers to capitalize on the NoP, collaborated with 16 community information centres to disseminate information on teenage pregnancy, reinforce the referral system and educate the community on accessing healthcare services in all the three networks.
She stressed that the overarching goal of the NoP in the municipality was to establish a comprehensive and interconnected healthcare system that ensured a healthy population with universal access to quality health services across all subdistricts within the municipality and its environs.
Mrs Morttey said their objective was to bridge the gap across subdistricts by improving human resources, enhance emergency logistics, build the capacity of personnel, improve on the referral system, provide laboratory services and effectively networking facilities within the municipality.
GNA