The outgoing Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, has underscored the need for the health sector to generate its own funds to complement the efforts of the government and donor partners to sustain healthcare in the country.
According to her, donor partners who supported the sector had resolved to release funds for health projects only after the government had raised counterpart funds.
The minister was speaking at a conference organised by the Institutional Care Division (ICD) of the Ghana Health Service for deputy directors, medical directors, superintendents and senior managers in the health sector in Accra.
The five-day conference is discussing ways of improving on institutional health care in the country and is on the theme: �Strengthening clinical services�.
Dwindling funds
Ms Ayittey said funds from the donor partners were dwindling due to Ghana�s status as a lower-middle income country.
Moreover, she said the government was supposed to spend about 15 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the health sector, but only about five per cent was being given to the sector.
Consequently, she said it was necessary for the sector to look out for holistic ways to mobilise resources locally to help sustain quality health care.
Ms Ayittey further suggested that a health delivery support facility should be considered to solicit funds from the private sector to complement funds from the government.
Emergency care
The Ministry, she said, had directed all hospitals to set up emergency facilities for rapid emergency and disaster management.
Currently, Ms Ayittey said there were several challenges such as poorly defined roles of hospitals at the various levels and lack of clear guidelines for emergency care management at all levels.
She called for proper management of funds, sustained capacity building of health personnel, public-private partnership, effective communication and collaboration among healthcare providers to ensure harmonisation and effective service delivery.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, said Ghana might not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) if health workers did not work hard to help reduce the burden of diseases.
He called for innovative strategies that would strengthen the leadership role at the institutional care levels and to link public health with clinical care to solve the problem of quality healthcare delivery.
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