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Ghana’s Health: The Reality On The Ground

By Gaylord Incoom
Opinion Kweku Agyeman-Manu, Health Minister
APR 21, 2018 LISTEN
Kweku Agyeman-Manu, Health Minister

Taking a retrospective look at the national budget allocated for the year 2018, the health sector was not included in the twelve medium term priorities of government. This is quite worrying given the fact that health care in Ghana is far below WHO standards. Considering how awfully governments who even prioritize health has failed, one would wonder about a government who cares less about the health of its people.

Ghana as a country has seen massive improvement in health only on the face of reports of the health ministry and during stakeholder meetings but reality at the various community health facilities speak of a different story.

Problems of Primary Health Care
Many health articles have described the problems of healthcare in Ghana as inadequate healthcare facilities, small number of health personnel, lack of funds etc. This is what I call the “Social Studies” problems of the healthcare system, this article seeks to reveal the real hidden problems that is affecting the health care system.

1. Corruption: I wish I could say that corruption ends at the doorstep of health but corruption has eaten into the crevices of Ghana’s health system. Citifmonline in October 2011 , revealed that a report issued by the World Bank called “Quiet Corruption” indicated that 95% of resources allocated to the health sector in Ghana was diverted into the pockets of some individuals. Medical equipment such as MRI machines get caught up in the grid of some unscrupulous immigration officials and customs, which are sold for a far less for their own reasons.

The health sector is not only affected by corruption within the sector itself but corruption in other sectors also affects the health sector as well. Health is dependent on socio-economic factors hence falling economic statuses negatively affects the health of the people.

2. Counterfeit Drugs and unregistered drugs
Despite the efforts of the Food and Drugs Authority to curb the influx of counterfeit drugs in the market, technology has enabled counterfeiters to run even more sophisticated operations and make counterfeit drugs that are harder to detect. I won’t refuse to acknowledge that some pharmaceutical companies are working round the clock to produce quality and affordable drugs to the public, but we must admit that some substandard drugs are being legally registered due to some corrupt activities that are ongoing.

In recent times, there has been an increase in what I call “THE TROTRO PHARMACY”, where some individuals prepare some concoctions into plastic containers and sell them to the general public usually using public transport as a platform to market their so-called herbal products. The herbal concoctions are usually not registered and the individuals selling the drugs do not know the adverse effects of the drugs they are selling.

3. Healthcare facilities lack appropriate equipment, supplies to manage emergency situations.

Most healthcare facilities in Ghana lack the equipment needed in emergence situations, usually health facilities are not ready when a life-threatening emergency occurs to their patients. The lack of basic but essential hospital equipment has forced private doctors to turn away from the state hospitals, with many citing that operating theatres are not fit for surgeries. I personally have witnessed an instance where a surgical process had to be postponed because a ventilator was not functioning, the doctor in charge complained bitterly but there was nothing he could do about it. Some facilities are forced to wash and reuse the examination gloves in order to preserve the sterile gloves for critical procedures.

In conclusion, Ghana’s health system despite being too weak to efficiently and equitably deliver health services to people who need them. The policymakers know what actions ought to be implemented to strengthen the health system. However, it might not be possible to adequately implement those actions without a coordinated fight against corruption in Ghana.

Written by :Gaylord Incoom
Physician Assistant level 200 student.

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