Volta Region to get 600-bed health facility – Minister

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, has revealed that the government is in the process of securing grants for the construction of a 600-bed tertiary health facility in the region.

The initiative, he noted, is aimed at enhancing access to high-quality healthcare services in the region.

Speaking at the region’s Health Sector Annual Performance Review conference in Ho, Dr. Letsa, highlighted the goal of improving healthcare accessibility through infrastructural development.

During the conference, the Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Chrisantus Kubio, stressed the region’s impressive performance, scoring 3.8 out of 4.5 on the national health performance scale.

Despite the region’s commendable performance, Dr. Kubio, noted a rise in maternal mortality rates in 2023, although still below the national target.

“Although we are performing better than the national target for institutional maternity mortality ratio, our ratio increased from 82 deaths to 97 per 100,000 live births,” he stated.

He also pointed out positive trends such as the decrease in the percentage of HIV-infected infants born to HIV-positive mothers, indicating progress in combating the transmission of the virus from mother to child.

“There was a further deduction in the percentage of HIV infected infants born to HIV mothers. If you look at the figures from 2021, it reduced from 4.2 to 2.4 in 2022 and further reduce to 1.9 per cent in 2023”, Dr. Kubio stated.

He highlighted the need for significant efforts to improve the anti-retroviral coverage rate, which stood at 58.6 per cent in 2023, below the target of 90 per cent.

“However, the anti-retroviral coverage rate which stands at 58.6 per cent in 2023 requires significant effort to raise this to the target of 90 per cent”, he added.