GHS introduces initiative to improve primary health care

A new initiative to improve primary health care and quality of services for better outcomes has been introduced by the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

Under the programme dubbed, Network of Practice, a group of existing public, private and faith-based health facilities at the sub-district level, and within a catchment area, would be interconnected through a district health centre where each of the facilities would provide holistic and quality primary healthcare services.

The facilities would include infirmaries, maternity homes, laboratories, sickbays, pharmacies and community-based health and planning services (CHPS) compounds.

Announcing the initiative at a presser in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said the initiative was expected to boost delivery of universal health coverage by 2030 and reduce preventable deaths.

“It is designed in the form of a hub and spokes, with the district health centre serving as the hub.

Through the network, the centre would be able to provide rapid and appropriate responses for clinical and public health emergencies,” he added.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the GHS was primarily focused on providing accessible, equitable and affordable healthcare services for all citizens, especially the poor and vulnerable in line with its mandate.

“Primary health care is core to our mandate.

In our unwavering pursuit to the attainment of UHC by 2030, the service has revisited its strategy to strengthen primary health care and also deepen its collaboration with partners towards the redesigning of the system to improve quality and also provide a more patient-centred care.

“In this vein, the Network of Practice, as a model health centre, is the fulcrum to increase access to care at all levels of the health delivery system,” he added.

Maternal mortality

Dr Kuma-Aboagye further said that in the last few years, maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and under five mortality had reduced significantly.

“Our institutional maternal mortality had dropped from 875 deaths in 2018, to 809 in 2022.

This looks small, but for mortality, it is very significant, especially when deliveries had increased by 13 per cent from 9,000.

“Our stillbirths have also reduced significantly while the national supply chain system has also improved,” he added.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye also said that public health emergency response system had improved and was appropriately and promptly responding to emerging and re-emerging outbreaks such as Marburg, Lassa Fever and Yellow Fever promptly.

“Currently, we have been able to establish E-surveillance which enables us to collect and share information to about 70 per cent of our points across the country to enable them respond quickly to emergencies and outbreaks at all levels.

Recruitment

The Director-General also said that in the last three years, the service had recruited more than 33,000 new staff to boost capacity at half year 2023.

“Definitely, we have suffered some brain drain, but looking at our numbers in absolute terms, we are not affected.

“Yes, we have lost experienced hands and skilled staff but we have also instituted measures to ensure that in the next two years, we replace them through training programmes and recruitment.

“In the last one year we lost about 525 nurses to brain drain, but we are having recruitment of additional nurses across the country,” he said.

Writer’s email: doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh