The Wa East District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) says it recorded zero maternal and perinatal mortality in the year 2023, demonstrating an improvement in maternal and child health in the district.
This was made known by the District Director of the GHS, Dr Pascal Kingsley Mwin during the 2023 Annual Performance Review Conference of the Health Services at Loggu in the district.
"In the area of maternal and child health, I am delighted to share with you our realization of zero maternal mortality as well as perinatal mortality," he said.
Dr Mwin attributed the feat to the timely referral of pregnant women to neighbouring districts for the Caesarian section since the district lacked secondary-level healthcare facilities to manage such situations.
"We timely referred 236 pregnant women to neighbouring district hospitals due to lack of EMONC [Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care] services mostly for C-section," he stated.
He added that there were improvements in anaemia among pregnant women at 36 weeks as well as underweight in children under five years which he also attributed to nutrition demonstrations and counseling sessions.
"...improvement in anaemia among pregnant women at 36 weeks from 35.5% to 32.5%. Underweight in children has also seen significant improvement from 3.1% to 2.6%...," he quoted the figures.
In the quest of the Health Directorate to upgrade the Bulenga Health Centre to the status of a polyclinic, Dr Mwin said 75% of the construction works of a theatre facility at the health centre had been completed with support from various groups and individuals.
"With contributions and support from the Upper West Youth Parliament, the Chief and people of Bulenga, Azumah Mines and RDHS [Regional Director of Health Services] who permitted us to use part of our IGF in offsetting some bills, the Bulenga polyclinic to be is 75% complete," Dr Mwin said.
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Wa East, Dr Gofred Seidu Jasaw, in a speech read on his behalf, said he has made an approval for the purchase of some equipment for the facility from his share of the Common Fund and urged the District Chief Executive (DCE) to expedite action in that regard.
“Some of the items I approve for purchase include; one surgical lamp, one patient monitor, one set of CS instruments, one pollen theatre stool, a patient stretcher, and a blood refrigerator.
“I want to use this opportunity to urge the Hon DCE to expedite the final approval process to ensure these funds are released to the beneficiary facility from my share of the Common Fund,” he said.
The DCE, Dr Ewura Suleman Kandia Mahama, speaking at the conference, also pledged his full support in helping to ensure efficient healthcare delivery in the district.
Overall, the Wa East District Health Service was graded by the team of assessors from Wa West District as performing well and meeting most indicators despite the challenges confronting it.
As part of the review processing, three out of seven Sub-districts, the Loggu, Bulenga and Kundungu Sub-districts were respectively adjudged the first, second and third Best Performing Sub-districts in the district for the year under review.
The Loggu Sub-district adjudged the most outstanding, was awarded a brand new motorbike to facilitate their work and also to motivate the personnel across the district to keep working diligently.
The Wa East District is home to about 94,000 people with 150 communities whose healthcare needs are being taken care of by 38 CHPS zones and 10 health centres with no polyclinic or district hospital at the time of filing this report.