The participants at the meeting
Central Regional Manager of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Francis Oti Frimpong, has emphatically stated that about 21,868 women, representing 62 percent of women in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK) District, have registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
According to him, the scheme can boast of 35,411 active members in the district, with 3,848 (18%) being pregnant women.
He made this known during a regional stakeholders meeting at Abura Dunkwa over the weekend to discuss the way forward in reducing child mortality in the district.
The meeting was on the theme: ‘reducing infant mortality rate through improved material healthcare, the role of the service providers and NHIS’.
He promised his outfit’s commitment to ensuring that child mortality in the Central Region and the various districts reduces drastically by providing free health insurance care to pregnant women in the country.
The District Malaria Coordinator, Edmund Nartey, called on the service providers and other stakeholders to help in reducing child mortality in the district.
Touching on the role of the service providers, Mr Nartey stated that service providers must build a procurement and logistics system that is able to provide an uninterrupted supply of emergency drugs and medical supplies.
Mr Nartey also urged the health providers to also adopt the home visitation to every pregnant woman, at least, before or after delivery.
Inadequate medical facilities, lack of staff such as midwives and doctors in the district, inadequate space to admit pregnant women and lack of ambulance for referrals, he disclosed, are some of the major challenges facing the district in healthcare.
He called for greater public awareness creation as a tool in reducing child mortality in the district.
From Joseph Annan, Abura Dunkwa