Correspondence from Bono East Region

The quest to achieve the Geographical Equity Index (GEI) in the Sene West District of the Bono East Region is facing a major setback as many communities do not have operational Community Health-Based Planning Services (CHPS) compounds.

Some CHPS compounds that have been built are yet to be operationalised, leading to the absence of fully operational healthcare facilities in those communities to serve the people.

The situation has created disparities in the fair distribution of resources and healthcare delivery to many residents in remote communities which is gravely affecting health outcomes in the district.

This came to light during the 2023 half-year review to assess the performance of the health sector.

According to Dr. Alex Kumah, the Director of Health for the Sene West District, the district is unable to evenly deploy health personnel to many communities to bring essential healthcare services closer to the people because there are no facilities there.

“We have made many strides but one challenge we are facing is progress on the Geographical Equity Index (GEI) and is this because we are not able to evenly distribute personnel to many communities because we don’t have operationalised CHPS compound”, he said.

He indicated that the only way to improve the GEI in the district is to operationalise completed CHPS compounds so that they can post health personnel there and appealed to the Assembly to support in that regard.

“The story will continue to be the same until the CHPS compounds are put to use so I am appealing to the Assembly and corporate Ghana to come to our aid so that we can deliver prompt and effective services to the people”, he added.

Dr. Alex Kumah further bemoaned the deplorable nature of roads such as the Kwame Danso- Akyeremade, Kyeamekrom-Todaykope, Kwame Danso-Gyasipo, and Kyeamekrom-Chaboba roads which are hampering quality health service delivery.

“We have to deliver services to several communities some remote but the roads are terrible and this hampers our efforts at serving the people effectively”, Dr. Alex Kumah said.