Dr Joseph Akpaloo (far right) with other dignitaries during the workshop
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Dr Joseph Akpaloo, has disclosed that maternal deaths have dropped from 102 in 2015 to 91 in 2016, saying that the feat is an impressive one.
“The above achievement marked the fifth straight year that maternal death rates had fallen at the hospital. From a ratio of 12.55 per 100,000 births in 2012, the rate dropped to 11.30 in 2013, 10.87 in 2014, 10.56 in 2015 and 10.20 in 2016,” he added.
Dr Akpaloo underscored that the re-training and dedication of staff of the Obsterics and Gynaecology Directorate, as well as the establishment of a dedicated blood bank for the directorate, led to the positive achievement.
He was addressing heads of directorates of the hospital during the 2016 performance review workshop, an annual event which the hospital uses to take stock of its performance for the past years and strategise for the future.
Dr Akpaloo disclosed that the provision of a specialist support and training which KATH had given to 22 medical facilities in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Central and Western Regions also contributed to the drop in maternal deaths at KATH.
According to him, medical facilities in the above mentioned regions used to refer maternal cases at an advanced stages to KATH, hence the need for the provision of specialist support and training to those health facilities.
Dr Akpaloo stated that specialists and consultants at KATH are determined to even work harder than ever to help reduce maternal deaths further in the coming years.
He, therefore, called for support in the completion of a 41-year-old maternity and children’s block project at KATH “so that we will have better facilities and space to offer the needed clinical intervention in the area of paediatric and maternal healthcare.”
Dr. Akpaloo expressed gratitude to DANIDA for funding the hospital’s outreach programmes in the districts, which have led to the sharp drop in maternal deaths at KATH, via the Millennium Accelerated Framework programme of the Ministry of Health (MoH).
The KATH CEO also mentioned ageing infrastructure, patients’ inability to pay medical bills, rising cost of medical and non-medical consumables and delay of reimbursements from National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for obstructing the work of the hospital during the year under review.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi