Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has commended the Methodist church for its pioneering role in the quality health delivery in the country.
He said the Methodist Church, and other members of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) has over the years strengthened its commitment towards complementing the government’s effort at providing quality health care services to the people, especially those in hard to reach and deprived communities.
Alhaji Bawumia gave the commendation in an address read for him by Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Minister for Health at the inauguration and dedication of the Methodist Oral Health School Complex, at the Methodist Hospital at Ankaase in the Afigya-Kwabre South District.
The three million Ghana cedis state-of-the-art facility, was constructed by the Methodist Church with support from its partners such as the Rotary Club Beilefeld-Waldhof, Germany, Rotary Club International, Rotary Club Kumasi East, Agaplesion gAG Germany and others.
It will provide not only one-stop dental and oral healthcare services for the people in the area, but also serve as the first oral health nursing training school to bridge the gap in the training of oral health professionals in the country’s healthcare delivery system.
The Vice President said dental health was critical in the total healthcare delivery system and the construction of the school by the Methodist church, had come to fill a huge vacuum in the training of middle level professionals in oral healthcare delivery in the country.
He said the government was committed to provide the needed resources to promote the general healthcare of the people.
That was why the government was working to expand infrastructure in the training of health professionals at all levels and also expand access to quality healthcare in all parts of the country.
Alhaji Bawumia said the introduction of various healthcare interventions such as national health insurance, emergency healthcare services, the Agenda 111 initiative, the use of drones to supply drugs and blood in hard-to-reach communities, among others, were all geared towards providing quality healthcare for the people at all times.
All these interventions, he said, would require the active support and participation of faith-based organizations such as CHAG to achieve the desired results.
Alhjai Bawumia said the Methodist Church had shown leadership and called on the management of the hospital to engage stakeholders in modernizing the infrastructure at the facility under the Agenda 111 initiative.
Dr Peter Yeboah, Executive Director of CHAG, said access to oral health care was very essential to the promotion of the general health of the people.
He said poor oral health awareness and inadequate oral health literacy coupled with limited infrastructure and trained professionals made access very difficult for the majority of Ghanaians.
Dr Yeboah said CHAG was happy to play a lead role in complementing the government’s effort at providing quality healthcare services and training of health professionals for the country.
Most Reverend Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, said the provision of the facility was a consolidation of the partnership between the Church and the government to provide good healthcare services for the people.
He said the Methodist Church believed in the holistic ministry and would continue to support the government to improve the socio-economic lives of the people, especially in the areas of health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, among others.
