Health Delivery System Fraught With Waste : Brookman-Amissah

Accra,(Greater Accra Region) 24 Sept., The Minister of Health, Dr Eunice Brookman-Amissah, said today that the health delivery system is fraught with wastage, duplication and lack of focus because of ineffective coordination between health providers in the country. She was addressing the annual council meeting of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) at Legon. The three-day meeting is under the theme ''The Role of Christian Health Association of Ghana in the evolving Ghana Health Service''. It is being attended by about 300 delegates from all mission health institutions. She said even though health providers in the private sector, especially the missions, have developed systematically, they have done so largely in an uncoordinated manner, resulting in wastage. She said lack of resources may be a significant underlying cause, but the inflow over the past few years, if it had been channelled properly, would have been more effective. ''Donors have often influenced the location of health facilities and which communities should be supported, so while a lot of resources have come in through the sector, the overall impact on service delivery has not rpt not had the desired effect.'' Dr Brookman-Amissah said with the establishment of the Private Sector Liaison Unit in the ministry, there has been increased consultation and information sharing towards strengthening of linkages. The minister said a stage is being set for a common agenda for health care delivery at all levels. ''What this means is that at the end of the day, both the public and private sector would have one plan on which all resources, no matter the source, will be focused and for which we would have a common mechanism of assessment.'' On future programmes of the ministry, Dr Brookman-Amissah said there will be recognition and incentive package for health workers in difficult areas. Missions and other private institutions can take advantage of these facilities to solve the staffing problems. She expressed the hope that for the next five years, government's allocation of funds to the ministry would have gone up from 10 per cent to 14 per cent and the ministry together with the missions will soon agree on plans, budgets and expected output for the agreed allocation. She explained that under the new arrangement, missions will also receive a global budget which will be used to cover a proportion of salary and non-salary costs. '''The intention is not only to link government funding to performance but also use financial leverage to influence the distribution and quality of services. ''Thus in these areas where there is duplication, funding to missions might be reduced. In other areas where they are the only available provider, funding might increase.''