The next Government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2017 to 2021, would scale up the implementation of e-Health systems piloted in at the Korle-bu, Wa and Zebila hospitals to all secondary and tertiary hospitals.

“If re-elected, President John Dramani Mahama’s Government will strengthen mechanism to motivate health workers by setting up appropriate and rewarding conditions of service that respond to changing trends in healthcare,” the Party’s Manifesto for Election 2016, which was made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), has stated.

The Party, is says, would: “Increase supply and fair distribution of health personnel across the country and ensure strict compliance with data protection laws of the country to protect the medical records and the privacy of patients.”

This story forms part of a Ghana News Agency Project, “GNA Tracks Election 2016,” to present the Manifestos of the contesting parties to the electorate.

The Project seeks to create a platform for the dissection and analyses of the manifestoes by all stakeholders and provide in-depth analysis of each thematic area to the electorate to enable them to make an informed judgement.

The project is being funded by Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) the nation’s foremost indigenous oil marketing company and the CIMG 2015 Petroleum Company of the year.

The GNA Tracks Election 2016 project seeks to sensitise the electorate on the various issues raised by political parties, the elections management body and other governance institutions.

The project also seeks to ensure gender and social inclusion in national politics and to provide a voice for the youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the broader spectrum of the society, as well as to contribute its quota to the achievement of a Peaceful Poll on December 7.

The NDC says it would complete ongoing Regional Hospitals in Ashanti and Upper West regions; complete construction of regional hospitals in Upper East, Eastern and Western Regions; and undertake a comprehensive upgrade of the Tema General Hospital.

“In our next term, we will diversify the sources of funding for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by allocating an approved percentage of the Annual Budget Funding mount (ABFA) from the Petroleum Revenue,” it says.

“The next NDC Government will continue to prioritise access, equity, affordability and reliability of health services; adopt proactive measures to reduce the incidence of malaria by 50 per cent; and strengthen institutions to reduce cases of maternal and neonatal deaths by a further 50 per cent”.

The Manifesto says the NDC would create more spaces for maternal and neonatal care in existing health facilities; ensure the further reduction of mother to child HIV transmission; take appropriate measures to achieve an uninterrupted supply of anti-retroviral drugs for HIV and AIDS patients, including supply of ARVs from local pharmaceutical producing companies.

“We shall prioritise and implement the National Strategic Plan 2016-2020 on HIV/AIDS and work towards achieving the 90-90-90 fast-track targets (90 per cent of People Living with HIV know their status, 90 per cent of People Living with HIV on Antiretroviral treatment and 90 per cent immune suppression), it states.

“The priorities shall include strengthening of strategic information and health systems, community empowerment to scale up HIV testing, treatment and targeted behaviour change among others.

“Additionally, we will continue to work to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV

by 2017 and meet the needs of adolescents and youth”.

The NDC says it would continue to implement policies on the integration of Traditional Medicine into the mainstream health care delivery system in compliance with the provisions of the Traditional Medicine Practice Act, 2000 (Act575).