Have confidence in healthcare system — Sherry Ayittey

The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, has asked Ghanaians to have confidence in the country’s health system and stop travelling abroad for the treatment of illnesses that can be treated locally.

She said the government’s programme to refurbish and re-equip the three teaching hospitals to enhance healthcare delivery was on course.

Already, she said, some modern facilities had been installed at those hospitals, while some of their departments had been refurbished.

The three teaching hospitals are the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi and the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH).

Taking her turn at the meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, Ms Ayittey said the hospitals were being equipped with modern diagnostic machines which could detect diseases and all kinds of ailments.

The re-equipping of the teaching hospitals, she stated, was essential, since they served as referral hospitals for the northern, central and southern parts of the country.

Projects

Giving details on some ongoing projects in the hospitals, Ms Ayittey said the Dental Department of KBTH has being refitted with eight new dental treatment units.

Already, new X-ray machines had been installed, she said.

The Children’s Theatre, which was closed down for about eight years, had been expanded and re-equipped to give children the needed care, she said, adding that the ward for stroke patients (Ward K) has also been refurbished and equipped.

On KATH, Ms Ayittey said the hospital had undergone a facelift in terms of infrastructure development and the provision of modern equipment.

She listed some new equipment installed at the hospital as mammography machines at the Radiology Department, a refrigerator and centrifuge machine at the newly created blood bank, as well as new machines for dialysis.

Others are the Datex Ohmeda Anesthetic machine, a sysmex hematology analyser machine, defibrillator and prefusor machines, new institutional clinical services, among many others.

The TTH, the minister said, had also witnessed renovation, expansion and re-equipping.

That, she said, included the installation of a state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, CT scan machines, digital X-ray machines and the construction of a new four-storey building linking the existing hospital structure.

With an ultrasound facility in a van and other mobile health facilities, Ms Ayittey said, the TTH had occasionally organised outreach programmes in the three northern regions which had helped to take medical treatment to the rural areas.

Midwives

The Health Minister said efforts were being made to train more midwives because about 40 per cent of those at post would go on retirement in the next 10 years.

She announced that her outfit was collaborating with the African Union to get certification from the World Health Organisation for local industries to manufacture drugs for the international market.

Ms Ayittey advised the public to avoid self medication and purchase certified drugs from accredited pharmacies.

Salaries

Touching on the salaries of medical personnel, she said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) was negotiating the salaries of doctors, while junior nurses were being taken care of by their respective hospitals.

She added that an exercise was underway to clean the payroll of all ‘ghost’ names in the health sector.

By  Salomey Appiah & Charles Andoh/Daily Graphic/Ghana