Bawumia points out seven key actions taken by the NPP to improve the health sector

The Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has highlighted major interventions by the NPP government, which he said are transforming the health sector.

Speaking at the launch of TeleHealth in Ejisu, an application which can be used to remotely seek medical attention, Dr. Bawumia said the government, over the past eight years, prioritised these interventions, to address many challenges in the health sector, which the Akufo-Addo government inherited.

The Vice President said the interventions, about 7 of them, are all contributing towards the transformation of the healthcare system.

Below are the interventions Dr. Bawumia spoke about:

1. Restoration of Nursing Trainee Allowance

Dr. Bawumia said in every healthcare delivery system, personnel is important. Hence, it is important to prioritise support for personnel, and in the healthcare, trainee allowance.

"That is why we restored the nursing trainee allowance, which were cancelled by the NDC, so that they will be trained and come into the health system," Dr. Bawumia said.

2. One Constituency One Ambulance

Dr. Bawumia lamented the poor state of the Ghana Ambulance Service, which has limited ambulances for the entire country.

"When we assumed office, there were only 37 active ambulances for the country, so we brought one constituency, one ambulance. We now have 307 ambulances," Dr. Bawumia said.

3. Revival of NHIS and covering more diseases

Dr. Bawumia said the NPP inherited from former President Mahama an almost collapsed National Health Insurance, with debts from unpaid claims.

However, he noted that since 2017, the government has revived it and made it even more reliable and better.

Dr. Bawumia added that the NHIS had been strengthened and has now extended to cover sickle cell patients, children with cancers, and dialysis for kidney patients.

4. Agenda 111

Dr. Bawumia said amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which stretched the nation's health facilities, the idea of Agenda 111 was birthed to build hospitals in newly created regions without district and regional hospitals.

Dr. Bawumia said the government looks forward to employing over 70,000 health workers when all the facilities are completed.

5. Drone medical delivery

Certainly, one of the biggest medical interventions in the world is the delivery of essential drugs to remote areas through drones.

The drones, Dr. Bawumia said, make daily deliveries from 6 centres to over 2000 health centres across the country.

"This has helped to address the problem of not being able to send essential medical supplies to remote areas in times of emergencies," he said.

Remarkably, Dr. Bawumia revealed that Ghanaians are manning all the centres.

6. E-Health

"We realised that folders of patients in public hospitals were being missing, especially when they are transferred. So, we decided to digitalise records of patients at all public hospitals, from teaching hospitals to regional hospitals, polyclinics, etc. God willing, we will add chip compounds next year," Dr. Bawumia said.

"We have networked all these hospitals and they are speaking to each other. It doesn't matter where you have been transferred from or transferred to; your records will be in the system."

7. E-Pharmacy

Dr. Bawumia recalled how, in 2019, at the annual pharmaceutical conference in Ho, he told the pharmaceutical council about the e-pharmacy. I think that we should converge all our pharmacies on one platform to make it easy for Ghanaians to buy on the platform without stress.

"We started it gradually, and we now have an e-pharmacy platform with over 2000 pharmacies on it. This affords Ghanaians the easy option of buying drugs on the platform."

TeleHealth

On Monday, Dr. Bawumia launched the TeleHealth application in Ejisu, Ashanti Region.

Speaking at the launch, Dr. Bawumia said the application is meant to provide swift and remote access to health services to Ghanaians without necessarily visiting the hospital to save time, resources, and money.

"Some people go to hospital and spend hours waiting just to see a doctor. Some people also don't even have anyone to take them to hospital, so this Telehealth will help a lot for those who are limited in a way," he said.