By Dennis Peprah,
Odomase, (Bono), March 6, GNA – The Reverend Esther Akua Konadu Prempeh, the Sunyani West Municipal Director of Health, has appealed for support to put the directorate on the path to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The UHC according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) requires that all people have access to the full range of quality health services when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care across the life course.
However, in an interview with the media at Odomase, the Municipal capital, Rev Prempeh said the directorate was bedevilled with challenges, saying until those challenges were tackled, there was no way the directorate could achieve the UHC.
Some of the challenges, that needed urgent attention, include the deplorable condition of the Community-based Health Service (CHPS) compound, high attrition of health workers, and lack of motorbikes to get to hard-to-reach communities for outreaches.
The Rev Prempeh was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 2024 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Directorate held at Odomase and attended by health workers, chiefs and queens, and other stakeholders.
She expressed worry that the directorate had rented private buildings as CHPS compounds, which it had no funds now to renew and pay rent.
Rev Prempeh said the directorate had even received eviction notices from the landlords, adding that the condition of the Aduonya, Kwabena-Kuma, and Kantro CHPS compounds was very bad, experiencing leakages and required urgent rehabilitations.
Addressing the meeting earlier, Mrs Benedicta Oppong Fremah, the Sunyani West Municipal Disease Control Officer, regretted that only nine out of the 54 health facilities in the area had refrigerators to store vaccines for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI).
She said the directorate required motorbikes to intensify health outreaches and also called for the timely release of funds for EPI activities.
That notwithstanding, Mrs Fremah said the directorate was able to reach out to and immunize 89.9 percent of children below one year (4,840 children) against measles in 2024.
She said malaria RTSS immunization also reached out to 3,512 children, representing 59 percent of the 5,789 targeted children in the municipality, saying the BCG immunization against tuberculosis also reached out to 3,473 children, which represents 58.7 percent.
GNA