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In a landmark achievement for maternal health, the Presbyterian Hospital at Agogo in the Ashanti Region heralded a year of success with zero maternal mortality in 2023.
The hospital's milestone was due to its dedication to implementing SafeCare quality improvement methodologies, alongside strategic interventions aimed at enhancing maternal care.
More than 2,000 mothers had safe childbirth at the hospital in 2023, an achievement that reflects the hospital's commitment to excellence in healthcare.
It underscores the pivotal role of SafeCare interventions in transforming maternal health outcomes.
Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the successes chalked at Agogo, Reverend Ezekiel Amadu Daribi, the General Manager, of Agogo Presbyterian Hospital, lauded the significant role the internationally accredited SafeCare quality improvement protocols had made towards the achievement.
“We are proud of what we have been able to achieve because the Presbyterian Hospital Agogo is 93 years old today, and we are celebrating such a great milestone in health delivery,” Rev. Daribi stated.
"This journey has been by the grace of God and the deliberate interventions we have put in place as managers of the facility."
He explained that the maternal health audit team and management of the hospital mapped out a strategy that increased the response time for facilities in the peripheral communities to ensure that they referred cases to the Agogo Hospital in time.
The contribution of PharmAccess’ SafeCare and Med4All programmes had enhanced the hospital's ability to access quality medications and ensure adherence to international standards of quality care, Rev. Daribi noted.
"We could not have gotten here without the critical intervention made by the Med4All team who ensured that the clinicians had access to good medicines to manage the cases."
“To run a hospital, you need quality medicines and PharmAccess supported us in this way.”
In the year 2020, PharmAccess Ghana, in partnership with the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), launched the SafeCare Quality Improvement Programme.
The programme was intended to support all 330 CHAG hospitals by providing quality healthcare to Ghanaians.
Additionally, it assessed the CHAG-registered hospitals and facilities to ensure they met internationally accredited SafeCare standards.
The Presby Agogo Hospital is one such facility, which was an integral component of its success story.
This approach enabled the hospital to identify and address gaps in care, implement best practices, and ensure continuous training of its medical staff.
The result is a healthcare environment that prioritises the safety and well-being of mothers and their newborns, leading to the significant achievement of zero maternal deaths.
Dr James Duah, the Deputy Executive Director of CHAG, expressed excitement over the successes chalked and saying: “The maternal mortality ratio under five is a proxy indicator of how efficient a hospital is.”
Dr Duah noted that the zero maternal death record in 2023 was a testament that the Presby Agogo Hospital was a well-functioning and resilient facility.
"To go 365 days with all the challenges, receiving 2,126 women who delivered in this hospital in 2023, showed that the system is working well," he added.
He lauded the commitments, skills, and competencies of the staff, and their collaborative efforts with all agencies and stakeholders to achieve the zero maternal death milestone.
The Agogo Presby Hospital attained secondary status in 2020 under the Ghana Health Service.
The facility had also secured the SafeCare Level 4 Certification, which meant that health seekers at the facility received a high-quality standard of care.
Madam Juliet Adjei, a Senior Nurse Officer, said the journey to achieving zero mortality for mothers came through collaborative efforts.
“We formed a team comprising specialists alongside collaborating with corresponding departments including the pediatricians,” she stated.
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