Public-Private partnership in health care needed

Koforidua, Nov. 22, GNA- Participants at a workshop have called for a change in official attitude in the allocation of resources to the private sector to ensure effective public-private partnership in health care.

The participants made the call at the end of a five-day workshop organised at Koforidua by the Eastern Regional Directorate of Health Services, which ended on Friday.

It was sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) to examine the current situation of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in health delivery at the district level.

The workshop was also to identify key challenges of the programme at the district level, analyse the situation and propose strategies to enhance implementation of it.

Selected Regional and District Directors of Health Services, Representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations, Mission Hospitals, Private Midwives, Pharmacists and Chemical Sellers and Representatives of herbal medical practitioners attended the workshop.

In a resolution, the participants called for the creation of a co-ordinating body of all private health care services provider groups and the Ghana Health Service with active participation and leadership of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

The participants called for the strengthening of the private health care service provider groups and the need for special attention to be paid to human resource development in that sector.

Commenting on the workshop, Professor Patrick Twumasi, former Dean of the Faculty of Social Science, University of Ghana, Legon, observed that the implementation of the PPP programme was on the right direction.

He said it could bring an interaction between medical practitioners and the various traditional herbal practitioners and provide the opportunity for the improvement of the herbal practice from more scientific and technological dimension.