Mr. Solomon Antwi Brefo, Ayensuano District Disease Control Officer, has urged telecommunications companies to improve telecommunication network services in rural areas to improve health service delivery.
He mentioned how a lack of a proper network connection in Bepoase, Ayensuano district hampered health care delivery and online renewal of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards.
In an interview, Mr Brefo told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that nurses serving at the Community-based Health Planning Service (CHPS) Compound at Bepoase must adjust themselves to vantage points to access network to check the validity of patients’ NHIS cards to attend to them.
Most patients are served without being able to check the validity of their cards, resulting in financial loss to the National Health Insurance Authority, the health officer said.
Telecommunication networks are electromagnetic transmission systems that allow information to be transmitted in analogue or digital form between various locations. The data could be audio, video, or any other type of data.
Mr. Brefo said, “the unimproved network service affects phone calls to the extent that if officers at the district health directorate need information from staff at the village, they need to transport themselves to the village.”
Mr Yaw Asamoah, a resident, told the GNA that the situation made it difficult for the youth to find work or trade because when a family member or friend from outside the district tried with difficulty to connect with a relative via phone call in the community.
He urged the government and network operators to improve the network connectivity situation.
Besides that, the District Disease Control Officer expressed concern about the unmotorized road connecting other communities to Bepoase and the lack of motorbikes to travel the routes.
“During immunization exercise such as polio vaccination and COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the office needs to arrange with a motorcycle rider to transport officers to the operation center, then it comes back for another officer from the village to another operating center,” Mr. Brefo said.
He said this is the same situation that referral patients faced and urged the Department of Feeder Roads to address the transportation system challenge to improve health care delivery.
