Two commit to ensure quality healthcare delivery
Development partners of the Ministry of Health have expressed their commitment to support the government to deliver quality health care to the people.
For its part, the ministry has committed itself to the effective implementation of all recommendations and programmes in the 2016 health summit aide-memoire (reference document).
The two bodies authenticated their commitments by appending their signatures to the 2016 health summit’s reference document in Accra yesterday.
The signing of the document concluded a five-day 2016 health summit attended by all stakeholders from agencies of the Ministry of Health, other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), the donor community, civil society, non-governmental organisations and the private sector.
The meeting provided a platform for the ministry’s stakeholders and development partners to review the performance of the ministry in 2015, discuss relevant issues to the sector and make consensual decisions on the way forward.
The document contains proposed solutions to the challenges of the health sector, proposed programmes to improve health delivery in Ghana, among other contents, with their related action plans.
Development partners commended
The Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia, who signed it on behalf of the government, commended the development partners, including USAID, DANIDA, DFID and UNICEF, for their immense contribution to healthcare delivery and the activities of the health ministry over the years.
He expressed the hope that the development partners would collectively ensure the implementation of all agreements in the document.
Mr Segbefia said the reference document was being signed at a time when the health sector’s priorities and plans had already been agreed upon and efforts made to start their implementation.
“To get some of the action points in the aide-memoire implemented will require extra budgetary resources. The ministry on its own will look internally to see what it can do to re-prioritise and re-allocate some resources to ensure progress is made on the action point in the aide-memoire,” he said.
Expectations
Mr Segbefia said the ministry expected the development partners to help the ministry in its desire to improve healthcare delivery by providing appropriate technical and material support and jointly monitor the progress of implementation.
In a remark on behalf of the development partners, the USAID Mission Director for Ghana, Mr Andy Karas, commended the Ministry of Health for a well-organised, productive and successful health summit.
“We remain wholeheartedly in support of your defined priorities, in the context of our common management arrangements,” he said.
Mr Karas urged all stakeholders not to do business as usual in terms of healthcare delivery, saying that to be able to achieve all the action points agreed upon at the 2016 health summit, stakeholders needed to think outside the box and become more innovative.
