Dr Oheneba Owusu-Danso and other management members on the high table
Statistics has shown that reported cases of maternal deaths at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi increased last year as compared to 2016, sparking major concern by management.
“Significantly, during the same period, maternal death rate increased from 1020.52 per 100,000 live births to 1207.10 per 100,000 live birth,” KATH CEO Dr Oheneba Owusu-Danso has disclosed.
He added, “Neonatal death rate also increased from 134.69 per 1000 birth in 2016 to 141.18 per 1000 birth. It is important to note that most of these mortalities resulted from referral cases.”
Dr Owusu-Danso was outlining statistics at the hospital in terms of performance for last year during the hospital’s 2017 annual performance review workshop, which was held at KATH on Wednesday.
He disclosed that during the period under review, KATH recorded some shortfalls in some operational areas, hinting that “surgical operations dropped from 17,928 in 2016 to 17,558, a decrease of 2.06 percent.”
The KATH CEO said emergency cases dropped from 17,804 in 2016 to 16,818, translating to a percentage drop of 5.54, adding that admissions also dropped from 35,699 cases in 2016 to 34,552 cases, representing a negative 3.21 percent.
According to him, deliveries at the hospital also dropped from 8,884 in 2016 to 8,438 in the year under review, which clearly translates into a decline of 5.02 percent, stressing the aforementioned statistics is a worry to KATH.
“These last figures are a major wake-up call on all stakeholders in the health sector to begin a serious review our strategies to significantly reduce these worrying figures, especially, in the area of preventable presentations and outcomes,” he revealed.
Dr Owusu-Danso, however, said some units at KATH recorded some positives during the year under review, announcing that specialist OPD attendance recorded 268,753 cases as against 261,083 cases in 2016, an increase of 2.96 percent.
“Diagnostics services recorded 318,181 cases as against 263,347 cases in 2016, representing an increase of 20.82 percent; family medicine (primary care) cases recorded 68,234 cases as against 62,638 in 2016, an increase of 3.76 percent. Radiotherapy services recorded 8,247 cases as against 6.697 in the same period in 2016, indicating an increase of 23.14 percent; transfusion medicine unit collected 17,202 units of blood as against 16,734 for 2016, an increase of 2.80 percent, despite the increasing challenges in delivering this critical service,” he mentioned.
The event was attended by KATH board members, heads of units and directorates and some selected staff who reflected on the hospital’s performance for last year and formulated strategies to help improve upon it this year.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi