Engaging stakeholders to improve quality health care delivery  — Ada West Health Directorate shows the way

The absence of the district hospital, inadequate health professionals especially trained doctors, lack of accommodations, poor road network; inadequate funds coupled with other operational challenges are impending quality health care delivery in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra region.

Health is a fundamental human right and a key indicator of sustainable development. Poor health threatens the rights of children to education, limits economic opportunities for men and women and increases poverty within communities and countries around the world.

If pragmatic measures are not put in place, the Ada West District will be off-track in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3.

SDG 3 aspires to ensure health and well-being for all, including a bold commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases by 2030. It also aims to achieve universal health coverage, and provide access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines and its integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals.

In order to ensure affordable, accessible and quality health care delivery, the Ada West District Health Directorate has initiated a programme dubbed: ‘Family Meeting’. The move is to help the directorate to have regular engagement with key stakeholders in the district to deliberate on challenges facing quality health care delivery in the district and come out with solutions to address them.

Addressing the first maiden meeting at Sege, the District Capital, the Ada West Direct Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Seli Deh, said despite the numerous challenges facing the district, health care service delivery has been improved tremendously.

Explaining the rationale behind the Family Meeting initiative, she noted strengthening collaboration among stakeholders is very crucial in their quiste to provide quality health care services to the public.

The Family Meeting, according to Dr Deh, will help strengthen multi-sectoral approach and increase engagement of potential allies across sectors to help locally develop new ideas for implementation which will contribute to quality health care delivery.

On Covid-19 pandemic, the district director reported that cases recorded are so insignificant and no case of death of the persons infested by the virus was recorded. She called on the public to continue to observe and practice the covid-19 protocols and guidelines put in place by the government and World Health Organization to avoid infection.

Dr Deh stressed the need to build stronger partnerships with health care NGOs and the private sector to raise awareness and increase access to targeted health services for citizens especially women and their families.

She pleaded with the Ada West District Assembly to build new CHP compounds in remote and inaccessible areas and renovate all the dilapidated existing ones in the district to help the rural folk have access to health care services.

In her Presentation, Ms Irene Efo, the District Public Health Nurse revealed that skilled delivery in the district reduced from 688 presenting 25.3% in 2018 to 673 representing 23.9% in 2019 and further reduced to 537 presenting 18.3% in 2020.

She said, her outfit has put in place measures to increase public education to help improve antenatal care services in the district.

The Presiding Member of the Ada West District Assembly, Mr. Sai Tettey who is also the AssemblyMan for Anyamam complained about the inappropriate working behaviour exhibited by some of the health workers in the district.

He called for improved customer satisfaction and loyalty through efficient public relations between patients and health workers especially nurses.

The Presiding member urged the health directorate to organise frequent in-service training for health workers in terms of public relations and customer care and service quality.

The Ada West District which is one of the 46 newly created Districts in 2012 is among the deprived districts in Greater Accra and it is established by the Legislative Instrument 2129 of 2012 with the population of 74,544 as at 2020.