Health workers in Ghana have lashed out at successive governments over their failure to properly equip facilities to reduce maternal and child mortality.
Despite several interventions like the free maternal health about 25 percent of women still do not have access to health facilities. The institutional maternal mortality hovers around one hundred and fifty one per hundred live births.
This trend has been attributed generally to difficulties in accessing health facilities and gaps in the creation of awareness on antennal services among others. But the Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Dr. Ali Samba said maternal health campaigns will continue to fail if facilities are not well equipped.
“You see, we all talking very nicely, they should come and deliver, they should come and do this, but the institutional delays and resources are poor. And until we resource the institutions, then telling them to come and deliver and things we won’t achieve anything,” Samba stressed.
He added: “There are little things that we can do, but if you are clinicians you see that people just talk, it’s all talk and funfair.”
Expressing frustration at the factors that contribute to maternal mortality, Dr. Samba revealed the health professionals suffer sleepless nights as a result of the deaths. “As a head of department, when you listen to the audit of maternal deaths, you go home and cannot sleep. It’s not about campaigns; we need the resources to work.”
Dr. Samba was speaking at a panel discussion at this year’s campaign of accelerated reduction of maternal mortality in Africa (CARMMA).
Deputy Health Minister Tina Mensah tasked health professionals to ensure appropriate supervision of health workers whose actions may contribute to maternal mortality.
Mrs. Mensah revealed though the country had made significant improvement in reducing maternal mortality much was still needed to be done to reduce the rate to the barest minimum.
She reiterated government’s commitment to ensure the needed resources are provided at the various facilities to drastically reduce maternal and infant mortality rate in the country.
Established in 2009, CARMMA is an initiative by the African Union Commission which seeks to encourage member states to promote the implementation of the Maputo Plan of Action – put in place viable policy framework for the reduction of maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity.
The objective of CARMMA is to expand the availability and use of universally accessible quality health services, including those related to sexual and reproductive health that are critical for the reduction of maternal mortality.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Abena Owusu Nyamekye
