The Yendi Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) recorded 14 maternal deaths, the highest, in the Municipality in five years.

Madam Denisia Agong, the Yendi Municipal Health Director, announced this during the 2015 annual performance review meeting of the Yendi Municipal Health Directorate at Yendi.

She said apart from the maternal mortality, the Municipality also recorded some suspected acute diseases last year, which included three cases of Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), five cases of Yellow Fever, two cases of Measles and 30 cases of suspected CSM, with 13 confirmed.

She said the other suspected cases had not been confirmed and samples, which had been taken to the health directorate was still awaiting the results from the Public Health Reference Laboratory.

Madam Agong said the year under review has chalked a lot of successes but faced some challenges as well and mentioned the maternal mortality as one major challenge, which must not be repeated.

She said out of the 14 recorded maternal deaths only five were from Yendi while the rest were recorded in Zabzugu, Chereponi, Nkwanta Damanko, Nanumba North, Saboba and Tatale / Sanguli Districts and stressed the need for specialists to be posted to those places.

She said the Yendi Municipality now has four medical doctors including the Municipal Medical Superintendent, Dr. Ayuba Abdulai who is a specialist.

She expressed the hope that the situation would be brought under the control in the Yendi Municipality.

Madam Agong said in terms of achievements, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) was established in 2014 in Yendi with the support of UNICEF and was fully functioning, taking care of new born babies with complications.

On service delivery, Madam Agong said the sector made gains in certain areas such as the expanded programmes of immunization, reproductive child health indictors as well as nutrition increase in case detection in Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), and Vitamin ‘A’ supplementation.

She, however, said other indicators saw ward trend of OPD attendance, which dipped, Family Planning acceptor rate and staked delivery.

Madam Agong said on the part of human resource, the Municipality received 42 new entrants, 12 transfers with eight going on retirement.

She said in the area of critical staff mix, midwives were still lacking.

Mr Sarfo Kantanka, the Yendi Municipal Coordinating Director, said the Assembly had constructed CHPS compounds at Yimahigu in Adibo, Kpasanado and Morondo as means of helping to improve quality healthcare delivery.

He assured that the Assembly would assist the health sector in the area to motivate people who would volunteer to donate blood to the Hospital and called on the Health workers and heads of Department to educate the public on the outbreak of the CSM in some parts of the country.