Bolgatanga Municipality Records High OPD Attendance In 2023 Due To Malaria

The numerous interventions put in place by the Ghana Health Service together with the Ghanaian government to eliminate malaria in the country seems to be missing the target. The malaria disease has been found to be the main cause of Out Patients Department (OPD) attendance in the Bolgatanga Municipality in the year 2023.

Data from the Municipal Health Directorate indicates that the disease topped all Out Patients Department (OPD) cases, constituting 13.2 percent followed by Upper Respiratory Tract Infection and Typhoid Fever.

The incidence rate of malaria in the Municipality also exceeded the national target as it stood at 246/1000 population as against the national target of 165/1000 in the year under review.

However, pneumonia, anaemia, and diarrhoea topped admission cases in the Municipality.

Death rate in the area, the data shows, increased by 14 percent with Septicaemia identified as leading cause of these deaths followed by Pneumonia, liver disease, neonatal asphyxia, CVA, hypertension and tuberculosis.

Although females constituted 63.4 percent of the 17,023 admission cases recorded in the year, 56 percent of the admitted patients, who lost their lives, were males and 44 percent females.

The figures also show an increase in children under 5 mortality rate by 8.75 percent with maternal mortality ratio also increasing from 175/100,000 live births in 2022 to 177/100,000 live births in 2023.

These data were disclosed at the 2023 Performance Review Meeting of the Municipality held on Wednesday, February 21, 2023.

The Municipal Health Director, Stephen Bodotsia, while acknowledging efforts to improve healthcare services in the region, called for more to be done to address challenges inhibiting effective healthcare delivery in the Municipality in particular.

“The unit wish to state that even though a lot has been done, a much greater work still remains ahead for this year since some facilities require major maintenance work, this includes; Azorebisi accommodation, Sherigu H/C, Nyariga staff accommodation block,” he stated.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Regional Director of Health Services Samuel K. Boakye-Boateng observed that while the region generally performed well in all 3 health sectors, it recorded some negative indicators in some areas.

He, therefore, tasked healthcare providers in the region to adopt strategies that will sustain the gains made and improve upon the poorly preforming indicators.

“In 2023, although the general regional performance was good across our three (3) health sector objectives, there were also areas of poor performance which require our attention to halt and reverse the negative achievement,” he stated.

“In the light of the aforementioned, I hereby call upon the M/DDHS and his/her Health Facility In-Charges to take note of the coverages and holistic assessment scores of the various indicators and come out with strategies to sustain well-performing indicators and improve upon poorly performing indicators and sustain all other gains made”.