GHS senior managers in a group photo with development partners and the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu
The staff of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) will soon have dedicated clinics at regional hospitals across the country.
This follows a directive by Director General Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye for the Institutional Care Division to put in plans for the establishment of clinics that will see to the health needs of staff and their dependents.
He announced this at the lunch of the Health Promotion Strategic Plan during the second senior managers meeting in Accra on the theme, “Promoting Healthcare Planning For Healthy Lives: Where Healthcare Systems Met Healthy Behaviours.”
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said effective health planning will not yield the needed dividends if the health workforce that delivers the service is not taken care of.
“We have also, on the instruction of the GHS council revisited the staff medical reinsurance scheme and have set in motion plans to relocate the GHS Headquarters to Pantang by the first Quarter of next year,” he said.
Giving an overview of the Service’s half-year performance, Dr. Luna-Aboagye said OPD per capita stagnated at the 2021 figure of 1.0, however, attendance by insurance increased by almost 17 per cent from the 2020 end-of-year figure of 639,450 to the 2021 half-year figure of 746,513.
Similarly, he said, OPD attendance by the non-Insured increased significantly by some 44 per cent from 44,658 in 2020 to 64,145 as of the half-year 2022.
“While the Maternal mortality ratio, regrettably, increased from 113.8 per 100,000 live births in 2021 to 118.7 per 100,000 live births for the half year of 2022, antenatal Care improved from 70% in 2021 to 84% in 2022.
Significant improvements were also recorded in the institutional infant mortality rate, the percentage of pregnant women attending 4+ ANC visits and Penta 3 coverages,” he said.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said to attain the desired goals and impact on overall health system performance, the Service must align with policy changes at the sectoral level, which include: engendering the implementation of the Network of Practice, promoting transparency and accountability in the use of financial resources.
National Health Promotion Strategy
Giving an overview of the five-year health promotion Strategic plan, Deputy Director of the Health Promotion Division, Mabel Asafo, said it outlines the opportunities and strategies to further improve Ghana through an all-inclusive approach that leverages efforts and resources to sustain impact.
She said the document talks about the strategic vision and goals, provides details on the current situation of health promotion and proposes national health promotion strategies, action plans, key activities, and results.