Shortage of midwives looming

Dr. George Amofa, Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, has revealed that an estimated 60 percent of midwives are set to retire in the next five years, which will pose a major threat to the fight against maternal deaths.

This will jeopardise the country’s drive to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in reducing maternal mortality, he said.

He explained that the country’s move toward the elimination of maternal deaths is going rather slowly, attributing it to a three-chain defect starting from the point of conception to delivery,
The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations - and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000.

Dr. Amofa explained that pregnant women are sometimes driven over five miles to the nearest health facility to access health care, and on arrival the health facility may itself lack the requisite facilities and personnel to cater for them - which in many cases culminate in needless deaths.

It is therefore imperative for corporate institutions to invest in areas of the health sector which are capital intensive. Dr. Amofa made these statements at a ceremony to hand over three renovated wards - the recovery, male, and labour wards - of the Maamobi Polyclinic to hospital authorities.

The renovation was funded at a cost of GH¢30,000.00 by the Metropolitan Life Ghana (MetLife), an insurance firm, as part of its corporate social responsibility programme. It was also its contribution to national efforts to raise the standard of healthcare delivery in the country.

Diop Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer of Metropolitan Life Ghana, at the ceremony said: “As a nation, our ability to develop will depend substantially on an energetic, strong and healthy workforce. A healthy workforce depends largely on the quality of healthcare that we provide to those who need it.

“For children in particular a good health facility is even more important, because they are dedicated and a failure to attend to their health needs could jeopardise their very future.

“To be able to build a robust healthcare system, government has a responsibility and the private sector has its role too,” Mr. Frimpong stated.

Mr. Robert Ahomka Lindsay, Board Member of MetLife, said the company decided to undertake the project as its contribution towards improving the health needs of Ghanaians.

“As a strong brand in the Ghanaian insurance market, the company will contribute to the general well-being of the Ghanaian people by offering more life-benefits in the insurance products that will create wealth for the citizens.

“A healthy workforce depends largely on the quality of health care delivery," he said, and pledged the company’s continuous support to the Polyclinic to improve its facilities and that management would continue working hard to improve on the wellbeing of Ghanaians through the introduction of well-packaged products to the market.

Dr. Mildred Kumassah, Principal Medical Officer in-charge of Maamobi Polyclinic, commended the management for the initiative and urged other corporate entities to emulate them to help improve health care delivery in the area.

She said some of their problems included an inadequate and ageing workforce, lack of water and a weak infrastructure. She appealed to Ghana Health Services to upgrade the Polyclinic to the status of a district hospital to serve more people within the area.

The Polyclinic is the biggest health facility in the Ayawaso sub-metropolitan area and was established about 42 years ago.

A daily average attendance at the Polyclinic is about 300 patients at the Out Patients Department (OPD) and 100 to 120 women attending the antenatal clinic.