Dr. Awoonor-Williams descend on NGOs and CSOs

02-10-2011          

The Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr John Koku Awoonor-Williams has taken a swipe at NGOS and Civil society organizations that constantly commit and donate equipments and items to the so called endowed hospitals, leaving the rest of less endowed health facilities. He said the practice where more resources are channeled to equip the already endowed major health centers in Ghana, leaves a cause to worry, because health facilities particularly those in the rural communities are woefully inadequate. Dr Awoonor-Williams expressed this concern in an interview with Radio Ghana at Bolgatanga. He said in order to fulfill in our quest to bring health care delivery to the doorstep of every Ghanaian, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals target on health by 2015, serious attention must be focused on the less endowed hospitals, mostly in deprived communities of the country. This, he observed, is one of the surest ways to providing quality health care to the poor and vulnerable that cannot easily access health care. According to him, deprived health facilities lack the needed available resources and attention, and therefore pragmatic measures have to be instituted to ensure their total wellbeing. Touching on some challenges confronting the ihealth sector of the region, Dr Awoonor-Williams disclosed that malaria continue to remain the major challenge as it continue to account for more than 53 percent of all out patient cases and 41 percent of all admission recorded at the various district and major health facilities. It also accounts for 41.7 percent of all death among children under five as it also remains a major cause of death among pregnant women as a result of pregnancy related complications. He said while pregnancy brings hope and joy to families in most parts of the world, the situation in northern Ghana, particularly Upper East is different as pregnancy brings memories of worry and uncertainties. According to him the issue of road traffic accidents also poses a major health concern to the health sector. He said available statistics as at last year reveals that 70 percent of the bed occupancy in the Duayaw Kwanta hospital is occupied by accident victims from the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West Regions. Out of the figure, 50 percent of the occupants are from the Upper East Region and attributed the challenge to continuous disregard for road traffic regulations. Dr Awoonor-Williams said the spate of road accidents on our roads has assumed an imaginable proportion especially when it comes to loss of human lives. He said as a way forward, pragmatic approach is needed to deal with the situation due to the fact that the existing efforts are becoming ineffective. Dr Awoonor–Williams therefore called on all stakeholders to propose effective ways of reducing and avoiding carnage on our roads.

GBC                                                             END                                                                 IA/