Stakeholders seek solutions to Ghana’s healthcare system

GE Healthcare, a multinational healthcare provider, has organised a dialogue session with stakeholders to drive conversations around innovative sustainable healthcare solutions towards achieving Ghana’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) objective.

The two-day event, held in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, brought together public and private sector industry stakeholders, including policy makers, healthcare professionals, decision makers, academia, investors and financing institutions, as they sought solutions to the country’s healthcare issues.

Elevating healthcare

Dubbed “Elevating Healthcare Through Collaborations”, the dialogue discussed structuring innovative healthcare financing solutions, Ghana’s Vision for UHC, the future of radiology with artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare technology innovations, among other topics.

Opening the dialogue in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Alexander Abban, said the government had put in place policies and measures that would ensure the people had easy access to health care.

He said the ministry was currently reviewing the National Health Policy, and added that it was also finalising a UHC road map that would serve as guidelines for action towards achieving anniversal health coverage.

While commending GE for its numerous initiatives towards improving the healthcare system in Ghana, Mr Abban called on corporate organisations, the private sector and non-governmental organisations to partner the ministry, and for that matter the government, to deliver the UHC vision by 2030.

Ultrasound system

The event witnessed the unveiling of GE Healthcare’s new budget-conscious ultrasound system, the Versana Essential.

The Chief Executive of GE Africa, Mr Farid Fezoua, said the new ultrasound system had an excellent image quality and could be used by obstetricians and gynaecologists, family and general practice physicians, and clinicians in a number of other specialities, making health care accessible to promote maternal health care in Ghana.

He said the new product also came with local product and clinical training backed with GE’s solid after-sales service to help healthcare professionals gain comfort and proficiency with the system to enhance patient care.

Ghana commended

The CEO commended Ghana for making some progress towards UHF through initiatives such as the National Health Insurance Scheme to boost financial protection for the vulnerable population and the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) strategy to deliver cost-effective and quality primary healthcare services, while also engaging the community in planning and delivery services.

The General Manager of GE West and Central Africa and French sub-Saharan Africa, Mr Eyong Ebai, called for the need for a country level platform to discuss key issues in an effort to champion the attainment of UHC.

He said the programme, dubbed the Vscan Access Task Shifting, would also provide 500 portable ultrasound machines that would benefit more than 1.5 million expectant mothers from 125 communities in the country by 2020.

The CEO of GE Ghana, Mr Sulemana Abubakar, said GE started operations in Ghana in 2010 with only five employees, but had now grown to more than 100 employees, with 90 per cent of them being Ghanaians with two offices in Accra and Takoradi.