A Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Dr Mary Ani-Amponsah, has urged government to invest in preventive health care as a cost-effective measure to address budget constraints on health expenditure.
According to her, there was a growing evidence from health economics-related studies and cost effective analysis that, it was cheaper to invest in interventions that promote health rather than curative care.
“Investing in nurses and midwives as a major component in the health force is good value for money. It is cost effective when we diversify our training and health care delivery to focus in primary health care, health promotion and disease prevention which reduces budgetary constraints largely by over 50 per cent,” she said.
Dr Ani-Amponsah was speaking at the Military Nightingale‘s Week celebration held in Accra on Friday on the theme, “Military Nightingales, our future”.
The celebration, marked annually by nurses and midwives, uniformed and in the defence or civil service of the Ghana Armed Forces Medical Services (GAFMS), is to commemorate the International Nurses Week celebrated globally in honour of Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing.
She said, the quality of training and support for care delivery was vital in shaping and delivering effective interventions to meet the needs of patients, families and communities.
To ensure sustained healthcare as a result of the exodus of health professionals, the lecturer stressed the need to actively build resilient health systems grounded in primary health care.
“What it means is that we need to begin to diversify our training specialties.
Creating specialties by investing in preventive health care as a cost-effective measure to address budget constraints on health expenditure.
For instance we need to invest in primary health care nursing education, public health nursing or specialised areas to match preventive health care disease and health threats such as hypertension, diabetes, cancers, debilitating illnesses,” she said.
Touching on the theme, Dr Ani-Amponsah said the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has remained a significant pivot for quality health care delivery, capacity building in various areas and providing security across the country, Africa and internationally.
In relation to capacity building, she said the nursing and midwifery training college had been one of the military training sites that had churned out many skilled health care professionals for the country and the world at large.
The Commander GAF, Command and Staff College, Major-General Bismark Kwasi Onwona, urged the nurses and midwives to avail themselves as an instrument by performing their duties to the benefit of their patients.
He stated that quality health care demands paying attention to the needs of patients and also using evidence-based clinical guidelines and protocols in practices.
The Director Nursing, GAFMS, Colonel Rex Adzagba, explained that the occasion presents an opportunity to assess the output of health staff.
“During this period, an assessment is made of our work as nurses and midwives, identify shortcomings and challenges taking cognisance of any strength and weaknesses, formulate plans that are implemented to achieve both staff and clients’ satisfaction,” he said.
He said despite the numerous challenges facing Military Nightingales including inadequate logistics, faulty and worn-out equipment that have outlived their lifespan, absence of modern and sophisticated equipment to aid practice and the longstanding issue of inadequate personnel, they have achieved a lot in improving health service delivery over the years.
