CP Parents support group bemoans health services

A Cerebral Palsy (CP) parent support group in Ghana has expressed concern about the health care delivery system in Ghana.

The parents sharing experiences at a maiden meeting said they had been very frustrated with the health care system in Ghana and urged the government to do something about it urgently.

Mrs Eugenia Tevie, a mother of a child with cerebral palsy who recounted her frustrations to the group said, the hospital environment was not even encouraging to take the children for treatment hence many parents resort to spiritual or herbal solution.

She said: “At most physiotherapy centres it is one size fit all equipment, whether your child is tall or short, plump or skinny they tie her in the same standing frame for all children accessing the services.”

Mrs Tevie expressed the need for improvement in the provision of health care services for CP children and called on authorities to train mothers with CP children in basic physiotherapy and speech therapy skills, since it was the mothers who spent most of their time with the children.

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Initiator of the Special Mothers Project, a project advocating for children with CP and also a mother of a child with CP, reiterated the need for parents to be trained in the basic skills.

“There are very few professionals in that area in Ghana providing services for a large number of patients, I think involving mothers in basic physiotherapy and speech therapy training will go a long way to support these children,” she said

Mrs Awadzi who also bemoaned the health care delivery system said sometimes parents of a child with CP were made to feel like victims.

“Woe betide you if your child gets sick in the wee hours of the day, some nurses and doctors really make you feel you are a bother,” she said, calling on the Ministry of Health to do something urgently about the health care system.

Nana Akua Owusu, a Speech Therapist who joined the meeting, admitted that there were lapses in the health care system and urged parents to be united and articulate their concerns to government.

She expressed the wish for a one-stop service centre in Ghana where parents will get all the help they needed.