The Health Committee of Parliament has, on Monday, shed light on the systemic challenges plaguing Ghana’s healthcare system.
During a recent visit to the Central Region, the Committee identified key issues, including staff shortages, poor facility conditions, and poor maintenance of health facilities.
“A significant number of doctors are unemployed, while some hospitals face severe staff shortages,” Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane, the Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament, said.
He made the remarks when the members of the Committee paid a courtesy call to the Central Regional Minister, in Cape Coast.
The visit was also a mop-up exercise of earlier oversight visits to health facilities in the country by the Committee.
Dr. Nawaane noted that some hospitals, like the Baptist Health Center, had a high patient load but insufficient staff.
To address this, he proposed offering incentives or financial clearance to doctors who agreed to work in underserved areas.
“We need to find a way of settling the issues because… we can’t depend on central government alone to motivate your staff,” he said.
Further, to improve the healthcare system, the Committee suggested that healthcare facilities should be allowed to retain and utilize a portion of their generated revenue for maintenance, staff motivation, and service improvement.
“If you have a book, you tell any patient who runs away you write it down… They have the ability to generate money, but they have to use the money.”
Dr. Nawaane, also the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for the Nabdam, Constituency, said the Committee’s findings and recommendations aimed to inform policy decisions and drive meaningful change in Ghana’s healthcare system.
He said: “As the Committee compiles its report, stakeholders are hopeful that our efforts will lead to improved healthcare services and better outcomes for patients.
“We should be able to pick some of them and see what we can do… We have to think aloud as a nation… to find a way of settling the issues.”
Mr. Ekow Eduamaoh Panyin Okyere, the Central Regional Minister, highlighted the poor state of healthcare facilities, citing the teaching hospital’s improvised accommodations and overwhelmed services.
“The maintenance culture is not there. You look at their OPD attendance, which is very high; admissions, which are very high; surgeries, which are very high… What is the corresponding revenue? And what is happening to the revenue sector? he asked.
GNA
