Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey
Anaemia has been discovered to be the number one cause of admissions at health facilities across the Volta Region in 2016.
In 2015, anaemia led to the death of 237 persons in the region.
This came to light when the Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey, addressed the 2016 annual review meeting of the Volta Regional Health Directorate held in Ho recently.
The meeting which attracted heads of the various health facilities, health directorates and others partners and stakeholders was under the theme: ‘Improving Maternal & Child Health Outcomes Through Effective Supportive Supervision; The Role of Leadership’.
Dr Nuertey pointed out that “the situation is not only surprising but worrying.”
He, therefore, assured that a thorough investigation would be done and strategies developed accordingly to curb the situation.
Decline Indicators
He said it was unfortunate that despite efforts at improving the number of midwives, antenatal care (ANC) and supervised child delivery still remained very low at 68.7 percent and 43 percent respectively, below the national average of 84 percent for ANC and 66 percent for supervised delivery.
To this end, the Regional Health Directorate has begun posting newly-trained midwives to CHPS compounds and health centres in a bid to curb the increasing maternal mortality rate in the region. This measure is to ensure swift response to all maternal cases at the local level, with complicated cases referred to the nearest hospital as quickly as possible.
Attendance by clients of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) continued to decline from 88.5 percent in 2014 to 87.3 percent in 2015 and then 85 percent in 2016.
This was a reflection of the increase in the number of clients who are not inured; thus, 11.5 percent in 2014, 12.7 in 2015 and 15 percent in 2016.
Improvements Indicators
Malaria, once again, recorded a drop in cases as a percentage of OPD attendance from 27.9 percent in 2014 to 24 percent in 2015 and further to 23.8 percent in 2016.
Dr Nuertey said the region recorded a marginal drop in teenage pregnancies from 15.3 percent in 2015 to 15.1 percent in 2016. Adaklu which topped in 2015 saw a decline which made it move to fourth position behind Central Tongu, Afadjato South and South Dayi.
He was excited about the 84.96 percent rise in home visits by community health officers at CHPS level, which he said increased in 2015 from 51,776 to 98,358 in 2016. That, he attributed it to the financial support that the Ghana Health Service (GHS) received from developmental partners and associated programmes.
Role of Leadership
Dr Nuertey expressed worry about how some heads and leaders at the various levels of the health sector in the region shirked their responsibilities, stressing that their actions and inactions contributed to the health indicators in the region, be it positive or negative.
He was hopeful that the various heads would ensure the effective use of resources, personnel and undertake constant data collation and reporting, supervision and monitoring and evaluation to ensure improvement in health outcomes in the region.
From Fred Duodu, Ho freduoo@gmail.com