Ghana’s drive towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (health) may be hampered by an ageing staff of the Ghana Health Service, the deputy Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr George Amofa has said. Reduction in maternal mortality looks even gloomier with an estimated 60 per cent of midwives set to retire in the next five years which will undoubtedly pose a major threat to the fight against maternal deaths. Mr Amofa made these remarks at a short ceremony on Friday to hand over three renovated wards - the recovery, male, and labour wards - of the Maamobi Polyclinic to hospital authorities. The renovation was funded by the Metropolitan Life Ghana, an insurance firm, at a cost of GH¢30,000. Dr George Amofa who was speaking on behalf of the Health Minister, Benjamin Kumbuor said Ghana’s march towards the elimination or reduction of maternal deaths is moving rather slowly. He attributed the phenomenon to a three-chained defect starting from the point of conception to delivery. According to him, some pregnant women especially in the rural areas do not detect their pregnant situation early enough, making it difficult to access pre-natal care. Eventually when they do, the distance to a nearest health care facility is unimaginable posing major transportation challenges to the pregnant women, he said. According to Mr Amofa, pregnant women are sometimes driven over five miles in wheel barrows to the nearest health facility to access health care. On arrival, the health facility may itself lack the requisite facilities and personnel to cater for the pregnant women 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, Mr. Amofa noted and praised the Metropolitan Life Insurance for going in that direction.