Expectant mothers urged to take advantage of free maternal health
The Director of Family Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Aboagye, has advised expectant mothers to take advantage of free services available before and after the birth of their child.
The free maternal healthcare policy gives pregnant women free access to services including antenatal visits, ultrasound scans, postnatal visits, delivery and care for the first three months of the baby’s life.
He added that expectant mothers were not expected to pay premiums for registering with the scheme, which is covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
His advice follows the release of 12 recently delivered mothers detained at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for failing to settle medical bills amounting to over GHc12,000. They were discharged following a directive from the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey.
The Ministry’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mr Tony Goodman, said the decision had been taken to help decongest the maternity ward of the hospital and make room for expectant mothers.
Although MOH will absorb the costs, which are expected to eventually be recovered from NHIS, Mr Goodman hinted that discharging the women free of charge was not sustainable, but had been carried out in line with commitments to lower the country’s maternal and infant death rates.
Ghana is expected to reduce its maternal mortality rate, which stands at an estimated 350 deaths per 100,000 live births, by 75% by 2015 in order to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) five, aimed at reducing maternal deaths.
