Volta: Peki Wudome CHPS Compound cries for urgent NHIS accreditation.

A Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana (UG) Nursing and Midwifery School at Legon in Accra, Dr. Lillian Akorfa Ohene has appealed to government to urgently accredit the Peki Wudome CHPS compound to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). According to her, there is no reason for the continuous inability of the appropriate agencies to give accreditation to the facility. 

Speaking at a home-coming event at Peki Wudome, Dr. Ohene said the situation is adversely affecting access to the CHPS compound by both students and the locals of Peki Wudome and its sister communities.

The Peki Wudome CHPS compound was built by the South Dayi District Assembly (SDDA) in 2019. The facility was opened in April of the same year to provide a myriad of basic healthcare services to its clients including the hundreds of students of the Peki Senior High Technical School (PESTECH) who are just behind the CHPS facility.

Though the facility has not been accredited to the Insurance Scheme since its inception, the residents of Peki Wudome have been promoting the importance of heath to the people through health walks and screening exercises and the need to use the facility to address their basic health needs. 

As part of the home-coming event of the residents, a health-walk was organized alongside a health screening session where blood pressure (BP), diabetes, breast examination and other tests were done for the residents to ensure that they are not only healthy but also fit and strong to continue to contribute their quota to the development of the local economy in particular and that of the country at large.

Speaking at the end of the event at Peki Wudome, Dr. Ohene who is also a citizen of the community said the plight of the CHPS compound in the area is very worrying. In her view, both residents and students who are supposed to patronize the facility are either forced to pay from their pockets or trek all the way to the Peki Government Hospital which is quite distant from the CHPS compound.

Dr. Ohene was of the view that giving NHIS accreditation to the facility would not only be in the interest of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) but also go a long way to promote quality healthcare delivery in the area. 

Midwife in-charge of the CHPS compound, Miss Diana Asamoah confirmed the situation, adding that some students still owe the facility health bills due to their inability to pay such bills. According to her, management of the CHPS compound is always compelled to treat a lot of the students on credit including giving their drugs to them on credit basis. Miss Asamoah said while some of these students make efforts to pay later after placing calls to their parents, others simply are not able to afford, resulting in bad debts for the facility.  

Our newsteam also spoke to some of the students of PESTECH who expressed regret and disappointment about the development, wondering why such an accreditation could not start with the inception of such a beautiful CHPS compound edifice some three (3) years ago.

Senior Prefect of the school, Master Patrick Amedior, his Assistant, Master Bayire Azameti as well as the Senior Girls’ Prefect, Miss Augustina Amevor told our newsteam in separate interviews that it saddens their hearts as students and future leaders that they cannot use such a health facility which is just in front of their school because of the NHIS accreditation issue. 

According to them, the absence of NHIS accreditation at the Peki Wudome CHPS compound is seriously having adverse effects on their studies, time and finances. 

The student leadership of PESTECH therefore added their voice in appealing to the powers that be including the GHS and the MOH to take the needed urgent steps to rectify the challenge. They were of the view that such a move would go a long way to ameliorate some of the numerous challenges facing them as students. 

Chairman of the Peki Wudome CHPS compound, Mr. Winnard Akugah appealed to government not only to equip the facility with some staff bungalows particularly for the Midwife and other nurses but also give financial clearance for the facility to employ some non-clinical staff to man the CHPS compound.

Story: Benjamin Makafui Attipoe & Seraphine Dikro, Peki Wudome.