GOOD HEALTH, OUR MAJOR CONCERN (SEPTEMBER 6, 2010)

The Good Book says in one of its component books that “He who has health has hope. And he who has hope has everything”.
This statement underscores the importance of good health to every individual in particular and a country as a whole.
The importance of health to this country is manifest in the fact that health-related issues have become some of the major issues in the country’s political dispensation, with each political party outlining its vision for the health sector.
Successive administrations have been investing heavily in the health sector, be it in infrastructure, human resource development and logistics.
However, in spite of these, the challenges in the health sector look more daunting than ever before as the population grows and resources become limited.
Therefore, the announcement by President Mills that the government will upgrade the Central Regional Hospital to a fully-fledged teaching hospital comes as good news.
The idea to upgrade the Hospital to support the training of medical doctors at the University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences is not only apt, but also a wise decision.
The challenges that the country faces with regard to doctor-patient ratio will be a thing of the past if the country takes bold and pragmatic steps such as the one announced by the President to deal with the training of more health professionals.
Again, considering the pressure that the two leading referral hospitals, the Korle Bu and Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals, face by way of patients from all corners of the country, the proposed Cape Coast Teaching Hospital has the potential to serve people in and around the Central and Western corridors of the country and even beyond.
It is also appropriate to mention that with the expected oil drilling in the last quarter of this year, the proximity of this teaching hospital is even crucial in anticipation of work-related incidents and accidents.
Much as we praise the President and the government for this thoughtful programme, we hasten to add that the necessary logistics and support should be given prior attention for the quick and early execution of this project.
The Daily Graphic wishes to use this opportunity to appeal to the government to speed up the implementation of the electronic payment under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) that will ensure that service providers are able to provide services to all patients irrespective of their locations.
The NHIS, by far, has been one of the best social policies so far and extra effort should be made to ensure the implementation of the electronic card system to make the health insurance policy more embracing and attractive.
Without doubt, it has the potential to deepen the NHIS, which already has become a model for other African countries.
If majority of our people have access to good health care, we may be on the path to attaining the principles of Buddha, the Founder of Buddhism, that “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship”.