GHS records marginal to low performance in VR
The Volta Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has rated as “marginal” to “decline” performance in family health and public health respectively in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012.
“An assessment of our performance during the first half of the year showed a decline in almost all the public health indicators as compared with the figures for the same period last year, 2012.
“We however, made marginal gains in family health,” Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey, Regional Director of Health Services, told the opening session of its half year review meeting in Ho.
He said the “general poor performance” in Public Health, “is a great worry, because most of the public health activities are supported by Health Partners and some amount of funds had been allocated to carry out these activities.”
He attributed the decline in performance to “lackadaisical attitude towards work at the district and sub-district levels.”
“We have to reverse this negative trend in performance and the time to act is now.”
Dr Nuertey said the Regional Health Directorate will intensify supervision at the district and sub-district levels in order to provide the necessary technical and managerial support.
In Family Health on the other hand, the Region recorded 35 maternal deaths in the first six months of 2013 as against 44 in the same period in 2012.
Still births also declined from 467 in 2012 to 442 in 2013, Post-natal registrants climbed to 28,377 this year from 24,781 in 2012.
Couple Year of Protection (CYP) for half year 2013 stood at 30,267.2 from 23,493.2 in 2012.
Teenage pregnancy among girls 10-14 years rose from 0.3 percent in half -year 2012 to 0.6 in 2013, while those between 15-19 years saw an increase in pregnancy from 14.1 percent to 15.1 percent for the same period.
Dr Nuertey reminded Medical Superintendents, District Directors of Health and other Deputy Directors at the regional levels that their contracts could only be renewed based on satisfactory performance.
“It is therefore imperative that those in such positions work hard to meet the performance targets,” he said.
Source: GNA