St Francis Xavier Hospital marks 50th anniversary
The Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia, says the government is examining the challenges facing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to create opportunities for the private sector to play a more active role in health service delivery.
He said the government believed that universal access to health was central to the objectives of the “Better Ghana Agenda” and the health insurance scheme would make it easier for the private sector to play a major role in healthcare delivery.
The minister said this at the launch of the 50th anniversary celebration of the St Francis Xavier Hospital at Assin Fosu in the Central Region.
He said the government was looking at ways to minimise the effects of the challenges of the NHIS on service providers in the health sector.
Commending the hospital for 50 years of providing quality healthcare services, Mr Segbefia said “50 years of missionary work combined with healthcare delivery in this community is highly commendable.”
St Xavier Hospital
The hospital is owned and run by the Archdiocese of the Cape Coast and Sisters Hospitallers respectively. The Sisters Hospitallers took the final management role of the clinic in 1965 and it has been developed through the years into a district hospital.
It provides health services in many departments for patients from the immediate surrounding area with a population of 207,000 as well as a referring population from other regions.
In addition, it has become a teaching hospital where medical and nursing students from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the School of Nursing in Cape Coast and other health training schools in the country send their students to get practical experience.
NHIS
In 2004, Ghana started implementing a NHIS to remove cost which was a barrier to quality health care.
The issue of health insurance financing has become topical over the years as the government continues to be in arrears with its payment.
One of the worst affected service providers are the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) which is made up of 59 hospitals and 111 clinics across the country.
The CHAG last year threatened to prevent NHIS subscribers from accessing its healthcare facilities.
The situation also led to threats by health facilities in the Ashanti Region to close down or resort to the ‘cash-and-carry’ system if the NHIA failed to settle debts owed them.
Accessing quality health care
Mr Segbefia said it was rather disturbing that “we live in a country where many of our rural communities do not have access to the services of qualified health personnel.”
“It is for this reason that those of us charged with the responsibility of ensuring the total health development of our people find it encouraging that as a mission you have been able to sustain a high level of health service in this area. I am aware of the enthusiasm with which the Catholic Church has contributed to health care in the periphery.”
The health minister stated that no country could develop and no group of people could ever realise their full potential if they did not have access to good health care.
“We cannot fail to realise the need for a healthy community in such rural settings in our quest for a better Ghana,” he added.
According to Mr Segbefia, since the government alone could not cater for all the health needs of people, it would increasingly concern itself with the establishment of the necessary structures to allow the mission and the private hospitals to play a more active role in healthcare delivery and allow the government to focus more on the poor and marginalised.