By
Albert Futukpor, GNA
Tamale, Nov 12, GNA
– Lack of medications, equipment, and unhygienic conditions at health
facilities in the Northern Region have been identified as barriers to quality
healthcare for pregnant women and new mothers, a study has found.
The study, has also
identified long waiting periods to access health care and abusive behaviour
from some health staff as also impacting negatively on the quality of care
offered pregnant women and new mothers.
The quality of care
study, which was conducted in November, 2018, investigated the perspectives of
women between 19 to 40 years toward quality of care in five health facilities
in the region.
The study was
released at a meeting in Tamale attended by nurses and midwives from selected
health facilities in the Northern, North East and Savannah Regions and
representatives of health directorates in the regions as well as the Ghana
Education Service (GES) and the Department of Social Welfare.
The meeting also
discussed sexual and reproductive health issues affecting adolescent girls as
contained in a manual developed by the Savana Signatures, which shared issues
and experiences of teenage pregnancy in the regions.
The study was
conducted by the Savana Signatures as part of its implementation of the
Technology for Maternal and Child Health (T4MCH) project, funded by Global
Affairs Canada to contribute to a reduction in maternal and child mortality in
the country.
According to the
study, even though women expressed confidence in the skills of health staff,
lack of medicines and equipment such as ultrasound machines at health
facilities meant that they had to go outside the facilities for such services,
which took a toll on their pockets.
The study recommended
the need for health staff to focus on health literacy by giving adequate
information to clients, and increase hygiene and maintenance of health
facilities to ensure quality of care for pregnant and nursing mothers.
It also called on
the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to increase effectiveness of health care through
recruitment of more staff and offer continuous professional development to
nurses and midwives to improve quality of care for pregnant and nursing
mothers.
Midwives amongst
other participants suggested that health staff should be punctual to work such
that clients would not wait for long to be attended to and also be patient to
listen and understand the concerns of clients to offer them better health care.
In the area of
sexual and reproductive health for adolescent girls, they suggested the need
for adolescent friendly facilities such as corners to be created at health
facilities to discuss their issues with health staff for adequate care.
Mr Alhassan Abukari,
North Gonja District Director of Health, said the GHS would continue to work
with Assemblies to help improve on its infrastructure to better serve clients.
Mr Abukari said
several measures were in place to monitor health staff’s attendance to work to
ensure that they were always present at the facilities to attend to clients.
Miss Ethel Emefa
Ehla, Project Officer at the Savana Signatures, expressed the need for the GHS
and GES to adopt the manual to be used for their activities to help curb
teenage pregnancy.
GNA
