Ghana's roadmap for attaining Universal Health Coverage 2020-2030 recognises the need to make healthcare accessible to all by bringing comprehensive healthcare to the doorstep of every Ghanaian. It states that every permanent marketplace in urban and per-urban areas is required to establish marketplace health centre or clinic to provide preventive and curative healthcare to traders, the traveling public, and others. The provision of the facilities can be done by the government or through a Public Private Partnership. After three years of adopting the roadmap, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited some clinics in markets in the national capital with reports indicating that they have made access to healthcare in the catchment areas much easier. The Anyaa Polyclinic is a public health facility situated close to the Anyaa Market. It provides services to persons living at Anyaa, Ablekuma, and the environs. When the GNA visited the facility Wednesday morning, it observed that the Polyclinic was functioning effectively, with nurses at the Outpatient Department (OPD) attending to patients. A doctor on duty told the GNA that the Polyclinic was patronised mainly by the residents, formal sector workers, market men and women and drivers at the Anyaa station. He said the facility, established in 2021, had three doctors, seven physician assistants, and many nurses providing various healthcare services. It presently runs a maternal health clinic, reproductive and child health clinic, and a wellness clinic with a standard laboratory and a pharmacy. At the Kaneshie Medical Centre situated on the third floor of the Kaneshie Market complex, the GNA observed that the facility was operating in a clean environment. A nurse who spoke to the GNA said the Medical Centre was a private facility and offered OPD services to the trading public and drivers. She said the aim of the Centre was to help address barriers to accessing healthcare such as the cost of transportation and the fear of missing work. The story is not different at the Tema Station Health Centre. It is mostly patronised by formal sector workers, the trading public and drivers at lorry stations in the catchment area. But a nurse on duty said the facility needed some medical equipment to meet expectations of clients. '… We do not have tetanus injection here, so we buy and sell to patients who need them… ' She said the Centre accepted NHIS and that most of its clients used the cards, with a few paying cash for healthcare services. The Tema Station Heath Centre was opened in 2016 to provide a range of health services to the public and antenatal care to expectant mothers, especially market women, who partially live in the market.
Source: Ghana News Agency