By
Godfred A. Polkuu, GNA
Bongo (U/E), Sept. 19, GNA – Dr Yao Yeboah,
Chairman of the Ghana Health Services (GHS) Governing Council, has commended the
Bongo District Hospital for the quality health care services being rendered to
the various communities in the district.
He said even though the hospital has limited
and poor staff accommodation and inadequate infrastructure for service
delivery, management of the facility did not relent on their core mandate in
maternal and child health care and deserved to be applauded.
“Beautiful buildings, equipment, transport,
ambulance and everything are important in the provision of healthcare services,
but our experience in Bongo Hospital shows that, in spite of the fact that
buildings, equipment, vehicles are limited, the staff are doing excellently
well,” he said.
Dr Yeboah gave the commendation when Dr
William Gudu, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, said the facility has not
recorded any maternal death since the beginning of the year adding “we have a
very good referral system in the District which is really helping us, and
because of that, we have a very good history so far as maternal deaths are
concerned.”
The Medical Superintendent, who showed the
Council around the facility, said the lack of adequate accommodation for staff
has compelled about 60 to 65 percent of staff to commute from Bolgatanga, the
regional capital which is about 15 kilometres away, to the District on daily
basis.
Dr Gudu took members of the Council round the
entire facility including the maternity unit, a combined female and children’s
ward, the Neonatal and Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and dressing and consulting
rooms.
The Council, which later visited the Namoo
Health Centre and Apowongo Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS)
compound, interacted with management and staff of the hospital, and officials
of the District Health Administration at Bongo as part of its two-day working
visit to the region.
Dr Yeboah said the maternal and child health
were among the Sustainable Development Goals that they were working to achieve
and that no country would be proud to lose a pregnant woman and her unborn
child during delivery.
Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director General of
the GHS, said many health facilities do not pay critical attention to planning
and budgeting and this is lacking in the service.
He said procurement practices in the service
are so weak and inefficient and more is needed to be done to improve the
sector.
GNA