395,000 vaccinated against COVID-19 in Ahafo Region

A total of 395,000 people, including pregnant women have taken the COVID-19 vaccine in Ahafo, Dr. Boakye Boateng, the Regional Director of Health has said.

He said the figure represented 45 percent of the targeted population in the region, with 27 percent of them taking the double dose.


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Addressing the 2021 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Directorate held at Goaso, the regional capital, Dr. Boateng said the regional COVID-19 case count stood at 1,135 cases with 34 deaths, a fatality rate of three percent.

He, however, added the region had no active case, and advised the people particularly, pregnant women to avail themselves for the vaccination to protect themselves, their unborn children, and those around them.

The meeting, under the theme "essential services continuity in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic: leveraging on public health and clinical care synergy", provided an opportunity to review its 2021 performance and chart the way forward in the third year of operationalization of the health directorate.

Dr. Boateng observed the COVID-19 deaths were highly recorded among males, saying the region had since January this year recorded 27 with two deaths, while it recorded 600 cases in 2021.

He indicated the COVID-19 pandemic had had a huge challenge on the health systems in the region, saying the viral disease had slowed down and affected the provision of services to clients.

The Regional Directorate said the COVID-19 had come to stay and asked the people to continue adhering to the health safety protocols and government restrictions to prevent potential the spread of the disease in the region.

Dr. Boateng commended the government for posting more health workers to the region, but expressed worry many of the health personnel, particularly, nurses were unwilling to serve in rural communities.

He, therefore, called for improved health infrastructure in the local communities to motivate workers to accept postings to serve in those communities for improved quality healthcare delivery.

Mr. Isaac Afari, the Ahafo Reginal Operations Manager of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) said about 72 percent of the regional population had been registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

He, however, added that the collection of illegal fees or co-payment by service providers remained a huge challenge confronting the operationalisation of the scheme in the region.

That notwithstanding, Mr. Afari advised those yet to register with the NHIS to do so, saying the scheme had huge benefits towards improving the health status of the citizenry.