Health care in Yeji in limbo

Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has called on the Ministry of Health to post health personnel to some abandoned Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds scattered across his constituency.

According to him, the CHPS plays very critical role in primary health care delivery which helps to reduce maternal mortality in the area.

Statistics from the Mathias Catholic Hospital at Yeji in the Pru District indicated that about eight (8) pregnant women died during child birth as a result of inadequate facilities at the hospital.

Since January 2017, the hospital which serves as referral hospital for about five (5) Districts in the Eastern part of Brong Ahafo Region had recorded three maternal death cases and five deaths in 2016 which the authorities describe as disturbing.

Speaking to the media soon after a tour of some project sites in his constituency, the former power minister said, with permanent health officers at the community level, basic antenatal, and post natal healthcare delivery to expectant women and mothers will be enhanced significantly.

“This will ensure early detection of danger signs in pregnancy, proper referral to the appropriate facilities as well as continuous monitoring of pregnancy and its associated conditions, leading to a decline in maternal mortality and other diseases,” he added.

“For MP, yours is to provide the facility, the utilization of the facility once it’s been handed over to the district health directorate is no longer your direct responsibility,” Hon. Donkor opined.

“I was told District Health Directorate has earmarked health workers for each of them but the facility has not been occupied for over a year,” he lamented.

He disclosed that , the district has a population of over 110,000, and the CHPS are stationed in many communities, adding that posting health personnel such as Enrolled Nurses (EN), community health nurses, and midwives to man the facilities would improve health delivery in the constituency and its environs.

On her part, the Pru District Health Director, Madam Emelia Dela Kpodo, explained that the CHPS compounds in the Districts were not functioning because of inadequate and obsolete equipment.

“A model CHPS Compound, per the policy document that established it, is expected to have the map of the community in which it is situated, their outreach chart for CHOs, modern health facilities to cater for delivery and, in other cases, a solar system, and apartments for CHOS, immunization monitor chart and a community profile.

“Every CHPS Compound is also expected to have a stationed ambulance so that cases that need further medical attention could be quickly referred to the regional hospitals, but we don’t have any of these ,” she said.