USAID Donates Equipment to Health Facilities in Volta Region

USAID’s Systems For Health (S4H) has donated basic healthcare equipment to primary care provider network facilities in two districts in the Volta Region.

The items, which included BP apparatus, weighing scales, glucose monitors, thermometers, drip stands, screens and assorted forceps cost GHC120,000 and are to ensure improved quality primary health care under USAID Systems For Health “preferred primary provider network” pilot project in the South Dayi and South Tongu districts.

The 18-month pilot project followed facility mapping assessment, which showed that the two districts had human resource deficiencies and lacked basic healthcare equipment.

Madam Elizabeth Hammah, Senior Advisor for Health Financing and Internal Coordination of the USAID Systems For Health in Volta Region, said the networking community health facilities project, offered bigger health platform to facilitate provision of technical and management support and strengthen service delivery capacity and referral pathways.

She said under the project, Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) zones are linked to health centres to function well in a network arrangement.

Madam Hammah said the pilot was expected to provide lessons in financing and payment mechanisms, organisational management and service delivery including referral arrangements aimed at improving access to primary healthcare.

Dr Yaw Ofori-Yeboah, Deputy Regional Director in charge of Public Health of the Ghana Health Service, who received the items on behalf of the districts, expressed gratitude to S4H for the assistance and noted that the intervention was already making positive impact at South Dayi with the National Health Insurance exceeding its registration target.

He said the absence of basic equipment could affect quality healthcare delivery and assured that the items would be put to good use.

The project in 2017 donated midwifery kits to selected facilities in the two districts and it is also refurbishing eight facilities in the districts.

Source: GNA