The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Ghana and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have collaborated to refurbish and upgrade an abandoned warehouse facility which used to serve as the Medical Stores for the then Brong Ahafo Region.

The facility which was left unused and deteriorated for more than a decade has been given a facelift through the intervention by the UNFPA and its stakeholders.

The over 13 rooms including eight warehouses, an administration and a quarantine zone which was resurrected were also restocked with various health logistics and commodities procured by the GHS.

During a brief ceremony to hand over the rehabilitated facility to the Bono East Regional Health Directorate in Kintampo in the Bono East region, the Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Fred Adomako Boateng described the gesture by UNFPA as a life-saver adding that it will boost health service delivery in the region.

He expressed confidence that the refurbished facility will go a long way to strengthen healthcare delivery in the middle zone of Ghana.

Dr. Boateng recounted how health supplies and commodities used to take long hours in its delivery from the then Regional Capital, Sunyani to some districts of the region, militating against smooth health delivery.

“Health commodities which used to take about eight hours from the Sunyani Medical stores to be delivered to Sene East will now take about four hours from here. This is a great breakthrough for health service in the region,” he noted.

According to him, most of the districts in the now Bono East region have over the years complained about various forms of shortchange during the distribution of limited logistics and commodities due to the distance.

During his remarks, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kumah Aboagye acknowledged the efforts by the UNFPA and the leadership of GHS in Bono East for the gesture.

He said, “this beautiful edifice will serve us a lot as we work on getting a more standardized store,” he stated.

He noted that, “although there is a global challenge with the supply chain, there is the need for us to turn serious attention to the supply chain sector in Ghana in a bid to achieve universal health coverage”.

Dr. Kumah Aboagye suggested, “our supply chain must not just end with the forecasting, procurement or warehousing. We need an appropriate workforce for logistic management formation, especially for decision-making and all this we need to include commodity availability”.

The GHS Director-General also noted that the operationalization of the medical stores in Kintampo together with the one in Sunyani will provide a great opportunity for the expansion of commodities to more areas in times of need.

Dr. Kumah Aboagye however bemoaned the indebtedness of GHS to some machine suppliers like the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), saying it culminates in the challenge of procuring further essential medicines to the health facilities.

The UNFPA Ghana Representative, Dr. Wilfred Ochan, disclosed that the UNFPA is committed to addressing the gaps in warehouse capabilities.

According to him, there can’t be a complete healthcare system without commodities, hence their resolve in refurbishing the facility.

“There is the need to continue working to improve the system across the regions because of a low capacity of the health delivery system in some areas. At the UNFPA, we are committed to ensuring every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and therefore no woman should die in the cause of giving birth”.

He added, “we are committed to ensuring that every young mother’s potential is fulfilled through our three transformative results. Similarly, Zero preventable maternal deaths, Zero child marriage and Zero female genital mutilation. We believe that access to quality sexual reproductive services is essential in this case”.

Officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were also in attendance to support donating some digital equipment to the facility.