Bono East director of health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Fred Adomako Boateng, has expressed the need for government and relevant stakeholders to as a matter of urgency intervene in CHPS facilities which provide healthcare at the community level.

According to him, there is the need for these facilities to be fully stocked with medical essentials to deliver the relevant services to residents in communities. He revealed that in terms of service delivery and emergency service delivery, the test of a health system is dependent on how staff are able to manage and deliver an emergency service because that is crucial.

The other test of service, he noted, is the facility’s maternal mortality ratio and rate.

“In the context of where we offer services, you’ll see that we need some interventions across board. These facilities provide for some of us because there’s no point stocking a lot of anti-snake venom for Bono East. We can stock but we say looking at the demands, we need about five, what about in the season you get about 10 or 20? So, these for me, comes in handy and it solves a lot of problems for us…”
Dr Fred Adomako Boateng

Citing an instance where some CHPS healthcare facilities have been proactive in attending to some emergency situations, Dr Boateng stated that if the CHPS clinic receives an emergency of a pregnant woman losing blood and there isn’t any at the blood bank, the CHPS facilities in the Bono East have devised a database which has the details of residents who have generic blood types to donate and help the patient in the interim.

“For a long time in Ghana, the leading cause of deaths were attributed to blood – postpartum hemorrhage… For us in Bono East, in 2021, the leading one is actually still bleeding and though there are some causes and mismanagements that will then lead to this type of bleeding, if you really have blood, that will be lifesaving.”
Dr Fred Adomako Boateng

Service delivery in CHPS facilities

Reacting to the health workers in Jantuakrom being impressed with service by zipline drones service to aid healthcare delivery, Dr Boateng stated that drone services in CHPS facilities are essential in dispensing of healthcare logistics to underserved communities.

Elaborating on what makes up a CHPS facility, Dr Boateng revealed that it terms of the structure, the CHPS is the lowest, as they have some services they can deliver and cannot deliver. He highlighted that the base of Ghana Health Service is what is usually referred to as the CHPS.

“So, we have the regional health directorate, district health directorate, sub-district health directorate and within that we have the community. In the communities that’s where we have the zones and, in the zones, you are supposed to have CHPS compounds for each zone. So, that is the unit or the fulcrum for service delivery.”
Dr Fred Adomako Boateng

The Bono East health director emphasized that in Bono East for instance, they have about 285 CHPS compounds and these are scattered across the eleven districts. He explained that by virtue of the services that the CHPS compounds are supposed to offer, it behooves that they have some medicines at their disposal.

Dr Fred Adomako Boateng

In terms of the service CHPS facilities are supposed to deliver, Dr Boateng stated that they are mandated to offer minor services such as treatment of minor injuries and illnesses. He however noted that, when some cases are beyond the management of the facility, it is only obliged to offer first-aid treatment as preparations are made for transfer.

“If they’re having midwives, then they will offer delivery services, but if they still don’t have midwives attached to the CHPS which we call CHPS midwives, when pregnant come to you, you have to do what you’re supposed to do before maybe you refer.”
Dr Fred Adomako Boateng