Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, has said that the Region has witnessed a significant improvement in healthcare services under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

He said the quality decisions taken by the government in the last four years had impacted positively on the health of the people at all levels of care.

He disclosed that the region had 519 health facilities, which comprises 321 Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compounds, 119 health centres, and 11 district hospitals.

“In keeping consistent to our vision of attaining Universal Health Coverage in record time, we have worked with our partners to ensure that material and human resources are made more available to assist service delivery,” he said.

Dr. Letsa who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the government had the responsibility of delivering quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to 1,907,608 people in all the 2,752 communities and 18 districts in the Region.

“The Volta Region has seen significant improvement in the critical health indicators which therefore clearly shows that we are making progress towards attaining our… objectives,” he stated.

He said as a result of the agenda 111, six districts - Adaklu, Afadjato South, Agotime Ziope, Akatsi North, Anloga, and Ho West, which hitherto had no district hospitals would see the construction of well-equipped district hospitals within the next couple of years.

“The Regional Hospital, which was upgraded to a Teaching Hospital under the tenure of President. Akufo-Addo has attracted specialists from the various medical fields to the region," he said.

He said the Hohoe Municipal Hospital was being upgraded to a Regional Hospital status, CHPS compounds and health centres were being retooled, and “it is a great relief that together with our health partners a good number of facilities have been operationalised to render healthcare services.

Dr. Letsa said maternal mortality has reduced from 148.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 99.7 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020, same period of 2020, adding that though such significant achievement was encouraging, further steps were being taken to further reduce such painful mortalities to the barest minimum.

He said one of the major achievements of the health sector, which had affected the region immensely was the restoration of allowances and clearing of the backlog of staff to the great relief to both parents and their wards.

The Minister disclosed that the 2018 batch of nurses were currently being processed for employment and were scheduled to begin work in January 2021 while the 2019 batch was currently undertaking their national service.

He said the “canker” of graduate health professional unemployment was near eradication as Allied Health staff who had been at home since 2012 had largely been engaged with the health service and other categories of graduate health professionals had been engaged to improve on the doctor-nurse population ratios in the Volta Region.

“The strategies to deal with the gaps in the health service exposed by the recent scourge of the COVID 19 pandemic emphasised the need for competent and bold leadership,” he added.

Dr. Letsa said the sterling leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo has saved uncountable lives and livelihoods, adding that his decisions backed by science and followed through by thorough and deliberate action made Ghana a trail blazer amongst its contemporaries.

He said during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Emergency Committee quickly mobilised stakeholders to put in place effective preparedness and response measures, including providing training for all categories of health workers to equip them with the necessary expertise to safely manage COVID 19 cases to safeguard lives of the people.

“In record time, a Covid-19 testing Centre was established in the Volta Region. A 40-bed capacity Regional Training Centre with ICU facilities were quickly operationalised. In addition, treatment centres were established in Hohoe, Adidome, and Battor,” he added.

He said there was an intensified disease surveillance in border communities and health institutions to enable early detection and containment of the Covid-19 cases, with various stakeholders also seriously engaged in a sensitisation campaign to let the public adhere to the safety protocols.

The Minister said logistics and funding challenges, which were a global phenomenon were largely resolved by the President's determination to rapidly expand the local capacity to produce Personal Protective Equipment.

He said the Region currently has no active case, but had a total accumulated case of 685 since the resurgence of the disease with 673 recoveries, 12 deaths, and appealed to all to continue to observe the health safety protocols in this campaign period to help stem the spread of the virus.