The
Ahafo Ano South District is scaling up the piloting of telemedicine in the
provision of medical services to pregnant women in the area.
Most
women in the local communities are not visiting the health facilities for ante
and post-natal services. This has been attributed to financial constraints and
the inconvenience of traveling long distances to health centres.
Through
the use of telephones, the district health directorate is hoping to improve the
situation.
Telemedicine involves the
use of telecommunication and information technologies to
provide clinical health care to
eliminate distance barriers.
District
Director of Health Services, Reuben Bedzrah, says ten telephones systems have
been acquired for the ten public health facilities in the district.
He
is confident the system should improve maternal health care in the district.
“Any
pregnant woman who comes to the facility for the first time, we are going to
pick her mobile phone number or anyone who is closer to her and there is a log
book at the facility; at any time that a pregnant woman is called on this
phone, the basic information is going to be logged,” Mr. Bedzrah explained.
Current
rate of deliveries by skilled and unskilled traditional birth attendants (TBAs)
is between 30-50% from 2011 to 2013.
Mr.
Bedzrah says measures to improve the rate include training the TBAs and empowering
community health nurses to register pregnant women to extend the needed support.
Story
by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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