Cape Coast Teaching Hospital Reports Findings in Information and Data Management (The state of surgery, obstetrics, trauma, and anaesthesia care in Ghana: a narrative review): Information Technology – Information and Data Management

Insurance Daily News

2022 NOV 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Information Technology - Information and Data Management is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Cape Coast, Ghana, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Conditions amenable to surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anaesthesia (SOTA) care are a major contributor to death and disability in Ghana. SOTA care is an essential component of a well-functioning health system, and better understanding of the state of SOTA care in Ghana is necessary to design policies to address gaps in SOTA care delivery.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, “The aim of this study is to assess the current situation of SOTA care in Ghana. A situation analysis was conducted as a narrative review of published scientific literature. Information was extracted from studies according to five health system domains related to SOTA care: service delivery, workforce, infrastructure, finance, and information management. Ghanaians face numerous barriers to accessing quality SOTA care, primarily due to health system inadequacies. Over 77% of surgical operations performed in Ghana are essential procedures, most of which are performed at district-level hospitals that do not have consistent access to imaging and operative room fundamentals. Tertiary facilities have consistent access to these modalities but lack consistent access to oxygen and/or oxygen concentrators on-site as well as surgical supplies and anaesthetic medicines. Ghanaian patients cover up to 91% of direct SOTA costs out-of-pocket, while health insurance only covers up to 14% of the costs. The Ghanaian surgical system also faces severe workforce inadequacies especially in district-level facilities. Most specialty surgeons are concentrated in urban areas. Ghana’s health system lacks a solid information management foundation as it does not have centralized SOTA databases, leading to incomplete, poorly coded, and illegible patient information. This review establishes that surgical services provided in Ghana are focused primarily on district-level facilities that lack adequate infrastructure and face workforce shortages, among other challenges.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “A comprehensive scale-up of Ghana’s surgical infrastructure, workforce, national insurance plan, and information systems is warranted to improve Ghana’s surgical system.”

For more information on this research see: The state of surgery, obstetrics, trauma, and anaesthesia care in Ghana: a narrative review. Global Health Action, 2022;15(1):2104301. Global Health Action can be contacted at: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2-4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon OR14 4RN, Oxon, England.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Emmanuella Amoako, Dept. of Pediatrics and Child Health, Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana. Additional authors for this research include Desmond T. Jumbam, Paa-Kwesi Blankson, Meredith Xepoleas, Shady Said, Elikem Nyavor, Adam Gyedu, Opoku W. Ampomah and Ulrick Sidney Kanmounye.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2022.2104301. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal Global Health Action is: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2-4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon OR14 4RN, Oxon, England.