Volta Regional Health Directorate reviews activities
A Ghana Health Service half-year performance conference has been held in Ho, the Volta Regional Captial.
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In an address, the Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey, said the Regional Health Directorate was greatly worried by the lackadaisical attitude towards work at the district and sub-district levels, leading to a decline in performance.
He said from September this year, his outfit would intensify supervision at the district and sub-district levels in order to provide the necessary technical and managerial support.
According to him, an assessment of performance during the period under review showed a decline in most of the public health indicators, compared with figures for the same period during 2012.
He, however, said the directorate made some marginal gains in family health, namely, maternal deaths, stillbirths and post-natal registration, in the period.
He said maternal deaths reduced from 44 in 2012 to 35, stillbirths dropped from 467 to 442, while post-natal registration increased from 24,781 to 28,377.
"There was a rise in teenage pregnancy. Figures on early teens rose by 0.3 per cent, while late teens shot up from 14.1 per cent to 15.1 per cent," he lamented.
Another source of good news was that no disease broke out during the period under review and that deaths from tuberculosis dropped from 7.5 per cent to 7.3 per cent.
Dr Nuertey commended the medical superintendents of the Krachi West District, Hohoe Municipal and Worawora hospitals for their prudent use of their internally generated funds (IGF) which led to the inauguration of an ultra-modern emergency ward and an outpatient department (OPD) at the Krachi West District Hospital.
He accounced that a Principal Community Health Nurse at the Ziope Health Centre in the Agortime-Ziope District, Ms Gloria Gamli, has been cited for an award for her enormous sacrifices to people in the various communities under her care.
Earlier in a welcoming address, Dr Winfred Ofosu, a Deputy Director of Health Services in charge of Public Health, noted that the two-day meeting was aimed at reviewing the performance in all programmes and health interventions being implemented in all health facilities.
That, he said, was to improve upon the status towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goals four, five and six by 2015.
The programmes to be reviewed, he said, included improving maternal health, new-born babies’ health improvement, reducing TB, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other neglected tropical diseases.
By Emmanuel Modey/Daily Graphic/Ghana