Veep launches revised policy on CHPS compounds
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, says the government is committed to bridging the gap in access to health services across the country.
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He said bringing health services to the doorstep of the average Ghanaian, especially those in under-served and hard-to-reach communities, was a priority of the government "and a critical strategy in our effort to change lives and transform Ghana".
At the launch of the revised state policy on Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds at Loho in the Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region last Tuesday, Mr Amissah-Arthur said the objective was to ensure that Ghanaians obtained health services without suffering any difficulties, including geographical and financial access, which was an integral part of the 2014-2017 Health Sector Medium-Term Development Plan.
The new CHPS policy document would guide health programming and investment at the community level. Currently, there are 1410 CHPS compounds across the country.
64 New CHPS compounds
The event also marked the inauguration of 64 CHPS compounds in the Upper West Region constructed with $8.5 million grant from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
In attendance were community members, parliamentarians, municipal/district chief executives, health professionals and government functionaries.
Mr Amissah-Arthur said the need for a well-trained and motivated health workforce at all levels of the health system could not be overlooked, for which reason the government had structured the CHPS programme to make it an effective first level of healthcare service delivery.
Apart from JICA, he acknowledged that the country had benefitted from similar support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH).
Increasing access
Through such support, 1,410 CHPS compounds have been constructed in under-served communities across the country and the district assemblies have been directed by the government to augment the effort by building two CHPS compounds every year.
These aside, members of the Executive arm of government have donated 10 per cent of their monthly salaries into a special fund to support the construction of CHPS compounds.
The Health Minister, Mr Alex Segbefia, said the CHPS system had become an essential component of the country's healthcare service delivery effort and thanked the various partners for their support.
He said many more CHPS facilities were under construction to further increase access to health care at the local level.
Doctor-patient ratio
The Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, said the CHPS system had helped to improve the health status of people in the region.
Referring to the region's often mentioned deficit of doctors in relation to patients which now stood at 1:19,172, he said the system had been an important intervention in healthcare service delivery for the people of the region.
He expressed the hope that contractors working on the new regional hospital would meet the timeline of the project, which is September this year.
The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Kaoru Yoshimura, expressed the hope that the construction of 64 CHPS compounds and the provision of essential equipment for 75 others would accelerate the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC) in the Upper West Region.