Health Minister Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) on Wednesday called on health professionals to introduce innovative ways of doing things to transform the sector and reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. He said the health sector had good brains that could transform the sector and help the country produce the human resources needed to move the country forward, adding that resources could be limited but innovation could not be limited. Major Quashigah made the call at the closing of a two-day National Consultative Meeting on the Reduction of Maternal Mortality organized by the Ministry in fulfilment of a recommendation made at the recently held Health Summit. Maternal mortality was declared as a national emergency in April to address the ratio estimated at 214 per 100,000 live births with a lifetime risk of one in 35. The Health Minister asked health professionals to develop commitment and pleasure in their work, since it was more rewarding to save a patient’s life than the remuneration. Major Quashigah (Rtd) also said he was happy that the health professionals themselves identified poor attitude to work as a contributing factor to the maternal mortality and tasked training institutions to take on people who had the passion for the job and not those who scored higher grades. He said there was the need to research into the cost of burying a person and the impact on the family, society and the nation as a whole, adding; “We will then realise that we spend so much in burying the dead than saving a life.” Dr Sam Adjei, Chief Consultant of the Ghana Health Service, who read the recommendations of the meeting, called for equitable distribution of staff, increased use of local media, expanded partnership and localising the problem of maternal mortality and address them accordingly. The recommendation stressed the need to prioritise maternal mortality reduction at every health facility and ensure resources were available for the reduction. He called on district hospitals to contextualize Goal 5 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Goal 5 of MDG targets the reduction of the maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. It also calls for improvement in local data on maternal mortality, the need for health staff to demonstrate leadership and commitment, promote productivity and have the desire for innovation. Mrs Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, who chaired the function called for documentation of best practices and commended the Police Hospital for its combat readiness for emergencies. She said there was the need for change of mindset, attitudes, innovation and quickening of steps in “our health facilities, bearing in mind that what happens to patients could also happen to health professionals”. Source: GNA