Make access to quality healthcare a major priority - NGO

The government has been asked to make access to quality health care a major priority on its development agenda.

Mr. Archibald Adams, Coordinator, Universal Access Healthcare Campaign (UAHCC), a local NGO, said it should go the extra mile to remove every bottleneck and bring efficiency into the operation of the national health insurance scheme (NHIS).

He was speaking at the opening of a day’s capacity-building training workshop held for members of the organisation in Kumasi.

The goal was to adequately equip them to lead the effort at getting more people registered for the NHIS.

Mr. Adams said the expectation was that the Akufo-Addo Administration would make good its election campaign promises on health – work hard to break down barriers to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-Three.

He underlined the need to expand health insurance enrollment to assure everybody of access to primary healthcare.

He noted that the present situation where under 50 percent of the population had registered for the insurance and said the figure necessarily should grow.

It must not be lost on anybody that when the country’s basic healthcare system became strengthened, there would be a drastic reduction in the outbreak of communicable diseases and other health problems, he added.

Dr. George Amofah, former Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), urged equitable distribution of resources to the facilities for their smooth running.

He said they should be supplied with the required equipment, kits and consumables to treat the sick and save lives.