Health facilities require maximum investment (Graphic Business)

A RESEARCH conducted in four regions of the country revealed lack of improvement in health infrastructure, equipment and human resource although the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has led to significant increase in attendance to those facilities
This should be a concern to all because the situation is said to have resulted in extra workload for health professional, over-stressed staff, excessive pressure on existing amenities and reduced attention to patients.
The research which was on "Balancing Access with Quality Healthcare: An Assessment of NHIS in Ghana (2004-2008), was conducted by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) SEND-Ghana. Data was collected in 50 districts the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and the Greater Accra regions.
The bad nature of our health care facilities is not new but the situation seems to move from bad to worse with the introduction of the NHIS. The scheme, with its increased in hospital attendance seem to have exposed the challenges in the health sector.
All the same it is a fact that the NHIS in spite its challenges, has really increased the revenue or income of a lot of service providers. Although there is the problem of delays in payment of claims, service providers could still make some profit when outstanding payments are made.
The question here is, are patients getting value for money? The answer is no. This is because facilities at many hospitals remain the same and some are even getting worse.
One another thing is the fact that private hospitals especially those in the cities and towns which were known to have performed better as compared to public hospitals have graudally gone down. Those which could be consider top class private hospitals have for sometime now remained the preferred provider of services to patients from corporate organisations.
That was because their staff were provided with timely and quality services and also had personal contact with doctors who provided them with satisfactory service. That made these organisations willing to pay those hospitals knowing very well that their workers would be catered for.
With the intention of also gaining from the NHIS, many of these private facilities since the introduction of the scheme joined the public hospitals to acquire accreditation to serve the various schemes only to devalue the service to their corporate clients.
As attendance to these hospitals increase and providers make more money, quality of service at facilities went down due to over-usage and lack of maintenance and replacement of equipment. This is the irony of the situation.
A cursory look around town revealed that many of our hospitals which boast of laboratories have nothing worth calling it a laboratory.
Many of them do not have simply pH meter that measures water quality for test.
Many private practitioners do not have pharmacists and use unqualified staff for their business. Lack of well trained nurses is also a factor.
In fact, the worsening condition in our private hospitals deserve maximum attention now that Ghana is preparing to produce oil in commercial quantities. This because the economy of the country is expected to move up with its attendant lifestyle diseases. There is also the possibility that a sizeable number of nationals from other countries will relocate to this country and might need quality health care similar to what pertains in their countries. We should also know that the oil companies are resourceful and require quality service for their staff.
It is also important that the necessary measures are put in place before Ghana’s health sector lose out completely.
For this reason it is important for Ghanaian medical practitioners, especially the private ones who can choose to invest on their own in various ways to participate in the Second International Medical and Pharmaceutical Expo 2010 being organised by Shem Pharma Services Limited (Ghana) under the auspices of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners Ghana, in August, this year . This will help them to acquire knowledge on the issue of oil and how to get prepared for the time.
Shem Pharma Service Limited is an organisation with the vision of providing a platform for health practitioners in both the private and public sectors to exchange innovative ideas in order to reduce the high incidence of medical errors in health-care delivery.
Dubbed "Medishop Expo 2010", the International Medical and Pharmaceutical Expo comes off at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) from August 19 – August 21, 2010.
The conference theme is: “The Emerging Oil and Gas Wealth in Ghana-Environmental and Medical Challenges to our Community”. Ghana should learn from other countries that already produce oil and take all the necessary steps to gain at all levels in the industry.
It is also important we learn from our own experiences as far as gold production is concerned. Just like gold, it is a fact that majority of Ghanaians will never see a drop of oil in their lifetime yet they would be affected by its impact. Obuasi township with all its challenges should serve as lesson.
It is important that the private medical practitioners invest in the facilities at their disposal so as gain from the oil production which is likely to begin by the end of this year. With no improved services, the health care facilities are to sure to lose to the others elsewhere.