Caring for HIV/AIDS patients could collapse health institutions

Accra, Aug. 19, GNA - Dr Kweku Afriyie, Minister of Health, on Tuesday said the cost involved in caring for HIV'AIDS patients was prohibitive and could cause the financial collapse of health facilities in rural areas.

Dr Afriyie said in some health facilities, HIV/AIDS patients occupied 20 per cent or more of hospital beds and the numbers were growing daily.

This was contained in a speech read for him at the opening of a three-day international conference on Catholic Health Care in Africa in Accra.

The conference is organised by the Department of Health of Ghana Episcopal Conference in collaboration with Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and sponsored by CORDAID, a Dutch Catholic funding agency. Dr Afriyie said the Church started the development of home based care and community support programmes for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as development of community health insurance schemes.

He urged participants to come out with new methods and approaches to improve accessibility and quality of health care to Africans.

"In the same breath, I ask you to maintain what makes you distinct in your mission ..... the challenge is to develop new ways to see your mission bear fruit in the context of today's socio-economic environment." he said.
He said the provision of health care in general has become a very complex task requiring highly trained professionals, who have to do a lot with very meagre resources.
About 40 participants drawn from seven African countries including, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria, Malawi and Namibia are attending the conference.
The conference is aimed among other things at taking stock of the progress made and challenges that have emerged or are emerging from the perspective of the health secretaries of the respective Episcopal conferences and to identify persistent challenges and bottlenecks in the pursuit to faithfulness to the mission, with a particular focus on issues of quality, access and equity of Catholic health care.
The Reverend Father Peter Lwaminda, Secretary General, SECAM Secretariat, called on participants "to critically look at the meaning of the time we are living in terms of the Catholic Church".
He said in Africa the church was to provide from between 15 per cent to 60 per cent of health care in many countries, through hospitals, clinics, health centres and numerous health projects and programmes. He urged Africans to come together to provide forum for information exchange and experience sharing of best practises.
He said there was the need for the church to show commitment in the fight against AIDS, saying the suffering, death and fear surrounding the disease call us to compassion, competent and pastoral care for those touched by the diesease.
Most Rev Thomas K Mensah, Episcopal Chairman for Health, opened the conference on behalf of Most Rev Peter Appiah Turkson, President of the Ghana Bishops Conference.
There were fraternal messages from the Apostolic Nuncio, Ghana Health Service and the Christian Health Association of Ghana.