Cape Coast (Central Region) 28th April ?99 ?

The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Moses Adibo, has expressed concern about the inability of the Ministry to establish comprehensive health services in the communities.

He recalled that in 1978, on the basis of a specific recommendation, the authors of the Primary Health Care strategy document proposed the setting up of community based health services.

The Deputy Minister was opening the seventh annual health policy implementation review meeting for district directors of health services at Cape Coast on Tuesday.

The four-day conference is under the theme, "The five-year programme of work at the district level: challenges and the way forward in the next millennium".

Dr Adibo said the proposal for the setting up of the community based health services followed an evaluation conducted in 1975.

The evaluation recommended the establishment of health services within the community since "it is only people who live within three miles or five kilometres radius of a health centre who actually use it".

Dr Adibo noted that up till now the Ministry has not done so and "the nearest we have come to is the so-called out-reach and extended out-reach services".

He pointed out that although out-reach services are most useful in preventive services, "they are not so useful when it comes to curative services which are usually emergencies".

The Deputy Minister said the most important areas that require urgent attention under the five-year programme of work at the district level are the expansion of coverage of the services and evaluation impact assessment.

The national chairman of the district directors of health services, Dr Nii Adjetey, said the services have made significant strides in the third year of the five-year programme of work.

He said that there has also been an improvement in resources allocation to the district level.