Severe staffing deficits, inadequate medical equipment, and inadequate infrastructure are placing an immense burden on health facilities across the Ashanti Region, the Regional Health Director, Dr Fred Adomako Boateng, has revealed.
Addressing a meeting with the Deputy Health Minister, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, under the auspices of the Maternal Mortality Action and Response Programme (MMARP), Dr Adomako Boateng cautioned that these systemic deficiencies are dangerously stretching local healthcare delivery to its limits.
Data spanning from 2023 to 2025 paints a grim picture for the region, which continues to battle persistent challenges including high maternal and neonatal mortality rates, elevated levels of teenage pregnancy, and suboptimal family planning coverage.
Dr Adomako Boateng explained that an overwhelming majority of districts within the region remain severely understaffed, with numerous communities entirely lacking hospitals and public clinics. A comprehensive workforce distribution map displayed during his presentation highlighted vast swathes of the region in red, underscoring the critical personnel shortages.
Detailing the region’s tragic maternal death figures, the Regional Director disclosed that Ashanti registered 195.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024, a figure that climbed to 196.7 per 100,000 live births in 2025. Consequently, the Ashanti Region presently accounts for the highest proportion of maternal mortality nationwide.
“Most of the time we thought that in Ashanti, we didn’t have that challenge. But the data shows otherwise,” he stated.
The high-level engagement with the Deputy Minister forms part of broader government interventions aimed at diagnosing critical operational gaps and executing immediate measures to stem preventable maternal deaths throughout Ghana.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
