A 52 million-Euro European Union-Grant-Project towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five to improve maternal health throughout the country by 2015 has been launched at the Tema General Hospital.

Mr Alban Bagbin, the Minister of Health who launched the project, tasked health workers to put in their best to make this possible.

The grant would be utilized to equip and re-tool health facilities, improve referrals and enhance access to family planning services.

Mr Bagbin said for the nation to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015 there was the need for health workers to work harder than before.

The Minister recounted the recent assessment by his Ministry and its development partners of the bottlenecks to achieving MDG Five in the country and said this would require additional investments in the three areas of Skilled Attendants at Birth; Emergency Obstetric Care and Family planning.

Such investments, he said, would not only accelerate Ghana’s move towards achieving MDG Five, but would further contribute to the attainment of the MDG Four target – Reducing Child Mortality.

The Health Minister commended the European Union for its immense support to Ghana, particularly, in these times of global financial crises, which he said had not spared even the some members of the EU.

He appealed to health workers to remain committed to their work so that by working diligently they would be helping to achieve the Health Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Claude Maerten, Head of the EU Delegation to Ghana, expressed optimism that the Millennium Development Goal Accelerated Action Plan implemented by the Government of Ghana would not only curb avoidable deaths but would also enable mothers to access adequate maternal care.

Mr Maerten said with the Grant, he was hopeful that maternal mortality would be reduced by two-thirds by 2015.

He pledged the EU’s continuous support to the Ministry of Health (MOH) with direct support to its budget to enable the sector to implement its programmes.

Dr Irene Agyepong Marteyfio, Greater Accra Regional Medical Director of Health Services, expressed the hope that with the provision of adequate resources personnel of the MOH would address health problems with open minds.

Dr Charity Sarpong, Medical Director of the Tema General Hospital, said inadequate health personnel, particularly doctors and nurses, poor infrastructure, lack of staff accommodation, inadequate support services and irregular flow of water were the major challenges facing the hospital.

Dr Sarpong called for the establishment of a well-equipped trauma centre, emergency and neo-natal intensive care units to take care of newly born babies.

Nii Adjei Kraku II, Tema Mantse, who chaired the function, commended staff of the hospital for their sacrifices and dedication to duty over the years and urged them to remain committed to their work.