The Manager of the Bawku Presbyterian hospital, Mr Ezekiel Amadu Dawibi, in Bawku, Upper East Region, has called for peace in the area to enable good healthcare delivery and ensure the security of the health workers.

Peace, he said, was the most important thing needed in Bawku and the lack of it had reduced client attendance for medical attention at most health facilities in the area.

Mr Dawibi made the call at the annual performance review of the Bawku Municipal Health Directorate organised to review 2022 activities.

It was also planned to create awareness and grant the health service providers in the area the opportunity to help solicit support from stakeholders and partners to complement the efforts of the Regional and Municipal health Directorate for optimum health care delivery.

Speaking on the Outpatients Department (OPD), Mr Abdul – Latiff Zeblim, the Information Officer of the Health Directorate, indicated that OPD attendance from 2020 to 2022 reduced from 259,007 to 249,362, with an estimated reduction rate of attendance of 9,645 per cent.

He said the number of patients who were admitted to the hospital in 2021, reduced from 186.9 to 85.5 in 2022.

Mr Razak Mohammed, the Officer in charge of the Natinga CHIPS, decried the low patronage of family planning services and stressed that most clients did not want to accept family planning due to non-approval by their husbands.

He appealed to the media to help educate the public about the risk and dangers of anemia and other diseases that impact on the health of the people.

The Bawku Municipal Health Director of Ghana Health Services, Mr Edmond Nyawura Mohammed, urged the health workers to be polite and accommodating to all clients.

He enumerated challenges confronting health delivery in the Municipality, including the shortage of drugs, and called on stakeholders and the government to come to the aid of the facilities.

Dr Mohammed Emmanuel Jamal, the Medical Doctor at Quality Health Care Services, said during the conflict, healthcare facilities and workers were left unprotected, exposing them to danger.

There has been intermittent violent conflict in Bawku for the most part of 2022 and 2023, which destabilized the area and caused low patronage of health care.