MOH Partners Sanford Health to improve maternal care

The Ministry of Health in partnership with Sanford Health Clinic, a US based clinic would be building more than 300 clinics to improve maternal care and reduce infant mortality rate by 2020.

The partnership, which will be a public-private partnership, will bring health care to millions of people across Ghana.

It will also improve access in peri-urban and rural areas, allowing patients to access primary care services closer to home.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and copied to the Ghana News Agency, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira said, "It's encouraging to see the positive contributions that Sanford is committed to making with our healthcare system to complement the public sector."

Mr Kojo Taylor, President of Sanford International Clinic-Ghana, said the new relationship will make a significant impact, adding, "Much of the rural population in Ghana does not have access to basic care. The addition of these clinics will greatly change the scope of health care across the nation. Thousands of families will no longer be forced to travel for basic services."

According to Sanford Health’s Vice President, Jim Slack, the partnership with the Ministry of Health had the potential to create hundreds of clinics in the country would give the people of Ghana greater access to physicians and health care services.

Sanford International Clinics first formed a relationship with Ghana’s Ministry of Health when it opened a clinic in Cape Coast in January 2012. Sanford has since opened four additional clinics in Mankessim, Kasoa, Kojokrom, and Adenta that have resulted in the treatment of more than 180,000 patients in Ghana.