Wa, Aug 25, GNA – Lack of adequate gynaecologists and midwives at the Wa Regional Hospital, is affecting the success of the free medical care for pregnant women, Dr Jacob Abebrese, Medical Director of the hospital has said. He said since the policy took-off in July this year, the hospital had witnessed an influx of pregnant women, which had placed a lot of stress on the few staff available, hospital infrastructure and medical consumables. Dr Abebrese, who told the Ghana News Agency at Wa, indicated that in July this year alone, 162 pregnant women were registered at the hospital as against 147 for the whole of 2007 and 183 in 2006. He said 156 and 142 pregnant women delivered at the hospital in 2007 and 2006 respectively.
“This is against the fact that, we have only three Ghanaians and six Cuban doctors in the hospital. Of this number, only one Ghanaian and one Cuban gynaecologists,” Dr Abebrese said. He added that of the 100 nurses in the hospital, 35 were midwives, all aged above 45 years. “The Cubans would be leaving for holidays in September this year and when that happens, the work load will even get heavier and more stressful,” he said. Dr Abebrese noted that but for the numerous satellite medical facilities in the Wa Municipality, the situation would have been worse for the hospital. He also noted that the delay in the processing and payment of claims by the National Health Insurance Secretariat, was also contributing to the difficulties.
