Maternal deaths reduced from 15 cases in 2008 to 12 in 2009 at the Agona Swedru Government Hospital, Dr Apetogbor Dzodzogbor, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital said. At a get-together over the weekend, Dr Dzodzogbor said supervised delivery of babies also rose from 2956 in 2009 as against 2444 in 2008. According to him, malaria cases among children under five years also reduced from 478 in 2008 to 375 in 2009, a reduction of 29.8 percent. The Medical Superintendent noted that delay in reimbursement of the National Health Insurance claims to the facility was posing financial difficulties to it. Dr Dzodzogbor said lack of human resource was another major problem adding that many doctors and nurses had expressed desire to work at the hospital but there was no accommodation for them. He appealed to the Agona West Municipal Assembly and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the hospital. Dr Sekyi-Appiah, Agona West Municipal Director of Health Services, said the hospital performed several successful operations and commended both junior and senior staff for their hard work and dedication to duty despite the constraints. He said the hospital needed vehicles and expansion of the accident and emergency units among other things to improve health care delivery in the Municipality. Dr Sekyi-Appiah appealed to the chiefs, well-to-do citizens of Agona and stakeholders in the health sector to come to the hospital’s aid. Source: GNA