The Manhyia Palace in Kumasi is planning to establish a special Midwifery Training Institute to support health delivery.

Otumfuo Asantehene’s Mawerehene, Baffour Osei Hyeaman Brantuo, disclosed this at the opening of the 14th Biennial Meeting of the Ghana Registered Midwives Association (GRMA) in Kumasi.

The meeting took place at a time when members of the Ghana Midwives Association are facing challenges including poor condition of service, inadequate resources, and inequity in the distribution of midwives in healthcare facilities, particularly in deprived areas.

The scientific session discussed modern trends in determining causes and treatment of diseases and efficiency in addressing challenges involved in neonatal and postnatal delivery.

The meeting further looked into how to address challenges in maternal mortality, which is currently on the increase.

The National President of the GRMA, Netta Forson Ackon, said the current distribution of midwives across health facilities in Ghana is skewed toward urban communities.

She called on the government to equip the health facilities with adequate and modern healthcare equipment to enhance safe delivery.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, assured members of the government’s determination to provide infrastructure to enhance the delivery of services.

He commended health practitioners for their role in helping to address the impact of the covid19 pandemic.

The Dean, Faculty of Allied and Health Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Veronica Dzomeku, gave statistics on the maternal mortality situation in the country and called on midwives to do more to reduce the figure.

The Otumfuo Mawerehene Baffour, Dr. Osei Hyiaman Brantuo, who is a medical practitioner expressed the importance of midwifery in healthcare delivery and disclosed Manhyia’s intention to establish a Special Midwifery Training Institute to complement the government’s effort at meeting universal health coverage.