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Health sector to face major financial challenges - Amofa
Accra, Jan. 7, Ghanadot/GNA - Financing the health sector to
scale up health services has been a major challenge for the
sector, Dr. George Amofa, Deputy Director General of the
Ghana Service said on Monday.
Leading a panel discussion on "Promoting Health for All: The
Challenges" at the on-going New Year School at the
University of Ghana, Dr. Amofa said added to the problem of
finances was the inappropriate administrative and
attitudinal issues which left much to be desired and as such
a hindrance to promoting health for all.
"Despite the galaxy of very skilful health workforce, we
have to admit that there has been laxity and poor planning
and management of health services here and there, especially
in the districts level where the action is," he said.
He said an estimated per capita health expenditure of 40 US
dollars in 2015 was needed for scaling up priority health
interventions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
however, potential available resources to the health sector
for the same period is estimated around 16.5 US dollars.
The World Health Organization (WHO) clearly defined health
as a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.
Dr. Amofa said the problem of ageing workforce and the brain
drain had resulted in inadequacy in numbers, skill mix and
distribution with a doctor patient ratio of 1:9,090, nurses
1:1,538 and pharmacists 1:13,373.
He said Ghana had adopted a holistic concept of health
delivery and operating a well organized decentralized health
service administration and service provision.
There were roughly about 2262 health facilities of various
types and ownership as at 2005 with 49.1 per cent belonging
to the government, 40.1 per cent to the private sector, 8.1
per cent to the Christian Health Association of Ghana and
2.1 per cent to quasi government.
Mr Kwaku Asante Krobea, General Secretary of the Ghana
Registered Nurses Association, touching on the Nurses
Perspective, said the country was in a global nursing
workforce crisis, one characterized by intensifying shortage
of highly skilled cadres thus undermining efforts to achieve
quality nursing care.
He said other challenges faced by nurses and other health
professionals include non-recognition of nurses as
professionals, inadequate compensation and equipment for
nurses to work with.
Mr. Asante Krobea said in all these, it was the patient that
suffered and called for a more collaborative effort among
health professionals in their interdisciplinary approach to
patient care.
To fill the yawing quality assurance gap in service
delivery, he said nurses could make significant improvement
if the enabling environment was created.
He said policy makers must act positively to ensure positive
practice environment where innovative policy framework will
address caregiver recruitment and retention through
continuous upgrading, recognition and sufficient equipment
and supplies to work with.
GNA
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