The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is considering scaling-up the Telemedicine initiative to cover other regions in the country after a successful pilot in the Ashanti Region.

The initiative which provides the opportunity for community health nurses to be connected to doctors and midwives at the Tele Center for assistance has so far helped in saving several lives.

Mr Augustine Yaw Boamah, a Deputy Director in charge of Administration at the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate, said this during a day's training workshop for journalists on primary healthcare held in Kumasi.

He said it was based on the effectiveness of the initiative that the GHS was considering scaling-up the initiative to cover other regions in the country to help save more lives.

Mr Boamah said the non-availability of mobile network coverage in some communities was a threat to the success of the initiative in those areas.

He said mobile network providers have a key role to play by ensuring the availability of network coverage across every remote area in the country.

On the indebtedness of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to service providers, Mr Boamah said until funds meant for the scheme were directly channeled to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), the scheme would continue to wallow in debt.

Amending the Act that established the scheme, he said, was a must to ensure all deductions meant for the scheme flowed directly into the NHIA account, saying that way the scheme would be able to pay service providers promptly to avoid debt accumulation.

This, he said, would also go a long way to improve service delivery on the part of service providers which would ultimately lead to the restoration of the confidence of their clients.

Mr Boamah said the role of the media in promoting primary health care in the country cannot be understated but appealed to journalists to always ensure they cross check their facts before going public.

The workshop which was held under the theme: 'Primary Health Care in Ghana: have we gotten it right', was organized by Curious Minds in collaboration with Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR).

The one year project is expected to end in September this year.

GNA