3,000 WOMEN REGISTER WITH MATERNAL, CHILD HEALTH HOSPITAL (PAGE 18)

The Maternal and Child Health Hospital near Kajetia in Kumasi registered 30,000 pregnant women for antenatal care between June and December last year.
This was to enable them to source for regular medical care at the hospital to ensure safe delivery.
The increase in the number regularly attending hospital by expectant mothers in the Kumasi metropolis and its environs started shortly after the previous government announced the introduction of free medical care for pregnant women in the country.
The Medical Administrator of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Mr Kwame Nsiah, who announced this during an interview with the Daily Graphic, stated that the desire of expectant mothers attending hospital regularly had reduced the incidence of complications encountered by pregnant women.
He said the quality delivery of health care services by medical officers at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Kumasi also played a key role by averting any maternal mortality last year.
"Last year, maternal mortality at this hospital was zero, and this could be attributed to the regular hospital attendance by expectant mothers, while the introduction of free medical care announced by the previous government also encouraged pregnant women to source medical care,” he explained.
Mr Nsiah, however, expressed concern about accumulated bills the hospital was incurring as a result of the free medical services being provided to pregnant women.
He pointed out that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) owed the hospital to the tune of GH¢240,000.00 being services provided to pregnant women since June last year.
"At the moment, our suppliers are refusing to credit us with consumables, such as detergents, liquid soaps and hand gloves because we cannot pay them regularly as we used to do," he said.
He said "the hospital is also finding it difficult to honour our bills on drugs supplied by pharmacy shops and this is affecting our operations".
He mentioned analgesics and anti-malarial, anti-diarrhoeal, and antibiotic drugs among others as those supplied to expectant mothers when they attend hospital, and therefore appealed to the National Health Insurance Authority to honour bills regularly to sustain quality health care delivery at the hospital.