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Following the recent reports of some neglected Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compounds, the Health Ministry has downplayed suggestions the current government has abandoned the CHPS project.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Robert Cudjoe said the Akufo-Addo administration rather has plans to expand the project.

“There are plans in place to ensure that we scale up the project by building several more in addition to what has already been built, and for those that have just been started, we’ll just complete them,” he stated.

Because the CHPS project is in line with the goal to accelerate the attainment of universal health coverage, Mr. Cudjoe assured that “there’s no way a government will come into power and abandon this concept which, worldwide, has been hailed as one of the best measures to ensure access to health care.”

The CHPS project formed part of a national strategy to deliver essential community-based health services involving health planning and service delivery within communities nationwide, with a primary focus on communities in deprived sub-districts.

Appointees under the Mahama administration were devoting 10 percent of their salaries to see the project come to fruition and recent questions over the utilisation of this money.

As of the end of 2016, GHC2,190,718.30 had been deducted from the salaries of appointees at the Mahama Administrations and paid to contractors, according to a former Deputy Minister of Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.

Issues at ministry

But the continued implementation of the programme thus far is being held back by some complaints at the Health Ministry, Mr. Cudjoe explained.

“We have these National Health Insurance claims and there are other debts that the new government came to meet which are being handled on a monthly basis, where some monies are being paid. So going forward, we will get to the point where you will see a lot of CHPS compounds being built.”

“We have several CHPS compounds dotted all over Ghana so if you have noticed somebody occupying an uncompleted CHPS compound, I don’t think that should be used as a yard stick to generalises the entire policy saying the current government has abandoned it.”