Afram Plains communities denied quality health care
The determination of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Kwahu North District in the Afram Plains to bring quality health care to the doorstep of the people is being hampered by the lack of equipment and other logistics.
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About 70 per cent of the population in the district is located in hard-to-reach areas such as the Dwarf and Didza islands. They cannot access health care because the only two 32-footer fibre glass boats used for outreach programmes by the district health directorate are no more in good condition.
Hence, since August last year, the health directorate has not been able to visit those areas to administer critical healthcare services such as childhood immunisation, home-based care programmes and the distribution of bed nets.
Under normal circumstances, the directorate is supposed to visit the islands monthly to administer immunisation and other services.
Response
The District Director of Health Services, Mr Robert Kwaku Bio, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, expressed concern that the situation was defeating the determination of the country to eradicate diseases such as guinea worm and polio.
He disclosed that a company that was managing the vessels estimated the cost of refurbishment at GH¢20,000, and said that information had been forwarded to the approriate authorities, including the district chief executive for his attention.
Urgent needs
Mr Bio said, for instance, it cost GH¢9,000 every month for health teams to cover the area.
The amount , he explained covered personnel’s night allowance, pre-mixed fuel, engine oil for motorbikes and petrol, and, therefore, appealed for the immediate release of funds to refurbish the boats and also move the teams to the areas.
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He said the district had a team of dedicated staff who were committed and ready to go to the islands to offer their services to the people , “but the lack of logistics is our concern”.
Mr Bio said it takes them seven hours on the water to cross to the islands, and when the staff members visit those communities, they spend at least 14 days to cover all the communities, “and in most cases, they sleep in the open spaces because there is no accommodation for them.”
“Such dedicated staff need to be motivated by paying them their night allowance,” he stated.
Yellow fever
He took serious note of the fact that the islands had started having cases of yellow fever, as one case was recorded in 2013 and another one this year. “With yellow fever, even one positive case is an outbreak.”
Giving further details on the outbreak, Mr Bio said, last year, there was a case at Kwaku Dade and another one at Ntonaboma early this year, both on the Didza Islands; attributing the outbreak to the inability of the health team to visit the area.
He said even though the directorate had volunteers on the ground to check cases there, “if we are not able to visit there regularly to monitor their activities, it could defeat the purpose.”
Touching on the incidence of other diseases in the district, the district director said malaria remained the major health concern, while there had been no reported caeses of measles.
Writer’s Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh