Former UHAS Vice Chancellor points to lack of long term plan as cause of health sector woes

Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Professor Fred Binka has stated that the lack of a long term plan for Ghana’s healthcare system forms the basis for which the sector is confronted with many issues. Speaking on 3FM‘s morning show, Sunrise, on Wednesday, Professor Binka said the absence of a plan allows different governments to introduce new policies and projects at every given time that they are in power. According to him, coordination becomes a problem since there is frequent change in leadership in the sector, and due to this, there is no standard plan directing the running of the sector. “If we change leadership frequently, the planning process becomes difficult and this mirrors what happens across the country. We have plans but everyone who comes to lead decides on where the priority is.” Professor Binka further noted: “If there exists a good coordination process in the health sector, there will be no need for a patient to travel several hospitals in order to get treated.” He further stressed on the fact that emergency systems in the health sector are not perfect, and that Ghana is not running the best healthcare system since it fails to collaborate with other stakeholders for an effective run. “If we want to build a proper health service, then the transport sector, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health must all be involved. “What we are doing now is a piecemeal approach since when a problem occurs, we have to put in money at every given time to deal with it,’’ Professor Binka stated. He believes financing the health sector is one of the major issues confronting the sector since it somehow depends on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Professor Binka alleged that the Finance Ministry usually cuts off budget allocation for training within the health sector because of the lack of funds, and this takes a toll on performance in the health sector. By Portia Gafah| 3news.com|Ghana Follow @3Newsgh    ]]>