Adansi West records
high maternal mortality rate
Adansi West
records high maternal mortality rate
Obuasi (Ashanti Region) 16
February 2001
The Adansi West District recorded
19 maternal deaths last year as against 10 in 1999 and 14 in the 1998, Dr P.C.
Awuah, District Director of Health Services, said this when he addressed a
day's workshop on "Safe Motherhood" at Obuasi on Thursday.
He identified infection and
excessive loss of blood as some of the major causes of maternal deaths, adding
that the situation could be different because the figures represent only deaths
at the health institutions.
Dr Awuah said poverty, long
distances to referral points, among other factors, contribute to the high rate
of high maternal mortality in the district.
He advised traditional birth
attendants (TBAs) and midwives to refer serious cases to the hospitals and
health centres.
The participants, comprising
nurses, midwives, chiefs and queenmothers, and other stakeholders, brainstormed
to find appropriate strategies to reduce the incidence of maternal mortality in
the area.
They resolved to co-operate with
health officials in establishing community health committees to ensure
effective health delivery at the local level. They also agreed to set up a
health fund to support needy expectant mothers.
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Professional staff situation in health
sector raises concerns
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 February 2001
Six dialysis machines, enough to handle the needs of half the country's emergency kidney patients, lie idle because of shortage of health personnel to man them.
President John Agyekum Kufuor, in his state-of-the-nation address to Parliament on Thursday, touched on the serious brain drain affecting the health sector and said the motivation and retention of health personnel shall be a major priority.
Records obtained by the GNA show that between 1969 and 1994 1,280 doctors were trained by the Ghana Medical School. The Medical and Dental Council in 1998 said less than 430 of this number were left in the country.
The professional staff situation in the health sector is grave and currently there is only one doctor to 16,000 people and one nurse to 3,500 people.
The total number of practising nurses has almost halved over the past decade and physiotherapists are almost non-existent.
President Kufuor said: "We have serious problems with our human resources in the health sector. In Cape Coast, an intensive care unit- three beds, each with a state of the art ventilator unit- gathers dust." He noted that there are patients for these beds "but no nurses to serve them."
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"We are committed and are working feverishly towards abolishing the cash and carry system," he said in his maiden state of the nation address to parliament.
President Kufuor said even though the nation had chalked successes in several areas, including immunisation coverage and reduction in maternal and child mortality, Ghana occupies the 149th position amongst 191 countries in terms of health attainment.
"There is still predominance of infectious diseases," he said. "Malaria, diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis and increasingly now, HIV/AIDS, are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality nation-wide," President Kufuor said.
He said guinea worm infestations, which declined substantially, have in the past four years become a major health problem.
"Indeed, today, Ghana is number one on the list of affected countries. We are taking measures to fully eradicate it by the middle of next year."
President Kufuor noted that the biggest challenge facing the health sector is the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
"...HIV/AIDS is crippling national economies and undermining businesses. In Ghana our situation is serious and is threatening to assume epidemic proportions. It is not too late to act but we must act fast and with resolution."
President Kufuor said the country must face up to the realities of the situation and not shy away because of various sensibilities.
"Those who have successfully challenged this scourge - like Uganda and Senegal - have found the courage to speak openly and frankly about sex and relationships within the vulnerable age groups. We must learn from them and do likewise."
On human resource, the President said the motivation and retention of health personnel would be a major priority.
He said the establishment of the Ghana Post-Graduate Medical College and specialised training programmes for nurses and allied health personnel would be vigorously pursued.
"We have serious problems with our human resources in the health sector," President Kufuor said.
"In Cape Coast, an intensive care unit - three beds, each with a state of the art ventilator unit - gathers dust. Six dialysis machines, enough to handle the needs of half the country's emergency kidney patients, lie idle. There are patients for these beds but no nurses to serve them," Mr Kufuor noted.
GRi../
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