The government is committed to providing effective, efficient, and vibrant health sector to achieve universal, quality and accessible healthcare for all Ghanaians. This is because, the health sector continues to play a pivotal role in ensuring a good public health system and thus, the socio-economic development of the country. Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, said this at the 14th Biennial General Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the Ghana Registered Midwives Association (GRMA) in Kumasi. The meeting was on the theme: ‘Empowering midwives: the key to professional efficiency towards universal health coverage.’ The meeting afforded them the opportunity to deliberate among other issues, on how to achieve better professional standards and improve the welfare of midwives. The Regional Minister said the government was committed to increase the number of training facilities for nurses and midwives and improve existing infrastructure to enhance quality health care delivery at all levels. Mr Osei Mensah said most of the ‘Agenda 111’ projects initiated by the government and several other projects to improve healthcare in the country were ninety percent complete. He said the government would continue support midwives and empower them to develop and improve their skills. This he said, would help reduce maternal mortality and neonatal deaths. The Regional Minister encouraged the midwives to be guided by their code of ethics and be patient to their clients. He also took the opportunity to commend them on the roles they played during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Veronica Dzomeku, Dean of the school of Allied Health Sciences, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), said the global shortage of midwives were putting a strain on them and there was the need to train more midwives. According to her, research indicated that half of the world’s pregnant women still lacked access to healthcare. Prof. Dzomeku said midwives were not only in the role of reducing maternal and infant mortality rate, but also prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS and the promotion of family planning practices. She called for a well-supported and motivated skilled mid-wife in the communities and said they should be provided with an enabling environment to achieve a universal health coverage. She stressed the need to support midwives with the necessary skills and recognition for them to successfully carry out their duties, adding that, the government must invest in them by way of jobs, leadership and service delivery. This, she said could be done by way of aligning the roles of midwifery education in optimised roles. Prof. Dzomeku, alto mentioned that midwives must be provided with specialist training and identify some key areas of maternal care and help them deal with emotional situations. Mrs Netta Forson -Ackon, President of GRMA, said as midwives, they were pushing for recognition in leadership positions. This, she said would help them stand out from the nurses, since the two were different professions. Mrs Forson-Ackon said the Association would continue to push in strongly for the establishment of Midwives Model of Care to be practiced at all levels of care in the country. He called for improvement in the welfare of midwives in the delivery of their services to enhance job satisfaction and prevent some of their colleagues from leaving the country to other countries to seek greener pastures.

Source: Ghana News Agency