Oti health committee backs Worawora medical store to support Free Primary Health Care

The Oti Regional Health Committee is seeking support from stakeholders to establish a regional medical store in Worawora, in a move it says will help make Free Primary Health Care more accessible and sustainable across the region.

Committee chairman Prof Mark Appiah announced the initiative during the 2026 Half-Year Performance Review Meeting of the Oti Regional Health Directorate in Worawora.

The meeting was held under the theme, “Implementing Free Primary Health Care in Oti Region: Where Resources and Activities Meet.” It brought together officials from the Ghana Health Service, District Directors of Health Services, heads of departments and agencies, development partners, traditional leaders and members of the Regional Health Committee.

Prof. Appiah said the review was intended to measure progress, identify shortcomings and agree practical steps to improve healthcare delivery.

He said primary healthcare was the foundation of an effective health system, but its success depended on whether resources were reaching the communities that needed them.

“We must therefore ask ourselves: Are our resources reaching the communities that need them most? Are our activities producing measurable results? And are we making healthcare more accessible and equitable for the people of the Oti Region?”

He identified distance, poor transport links, poverty and inadequate infrastructure as continuing obstacles to healthcare access, particularly for residents of remote communities.

Prof. Appiah said Free Primary Health Care needed to be experienced in practical terms by ordinary citizens rather than remaining only a policy objective.

“A mother should be able to access essential maternal and child health services. A child should receive appropriate care without financial barriers. An elderly person should not have to travel unnecessarily long distances for basic healthcare. And when people arrive at our health facilities, the necessary personnel, medicines, and equipment should be available,” he said.

Worawora medical store identified as priority

The Committee has made the shortage and late delivery of medicines and essential supplies one of its main concerns.

Prof. Appiah said the proposed medical store in Worawora would provide a dependable system for storing and distributing medicines and other health commodities to facilities across the region.

“In healthcare, having the prescription is not enough the medicine must also be available,” he stressed.

He said the facility would increase the region’s ability to hold and distribute essential supplies, while reducing delays and its reliance on stock provided by other regions.

The Committee is also working to document, demarcate and secure legal ownership of lands belonging to the Ghana Health Service in the Oti Region.

The exercise will begin in Worawora and will be carried out with the Lands Commission, traditional authorities and district assemblies.

It will involve regularising ownership, processing indentures and obtaining title certificates. The aim is to protect health-sector land from encroachment and reduce the risk of future disputes.

“We can not be building hospitals and other health facilities today and tomorrow be asking, ‘Who actually owns the land?’ We must secure what belongs to the health sector today so that future generations can benefit from it,” he said.

Region faces shortage of 3,592 health workers

Oti Regional Director of Health Services Dr Kofi Amo-Kodieh welcomed the proposed medical store, describing it as potentially transformative for a region that does not have its own central medical storage facility.

He said the Directorate remained committed to implementing Free Primary Health Care but was operating under significant resource constraints, especially in staffing.

According to Dr Amo-Kodieh, the region requires a further 3,592 health workers for its facilities to operate at an optimal level across its nine districts and municipalities.

He said the shortage was undermining service delivery, particularly at hard-to-reach CHPS compounds and health centres, while placing increased pressure on existing staff.

The absence of a regional medical store was also affecting the timely distribution of medicines and consumables. The region currently depends on supplies from other regions, a situation that sometimes leads to delays and stock-outs.

Dr Amo-Kodieh strongly backed the Committee’s proposal and urged stakeholders to help make the project a reality.

He appealed to natives of the Oti Region at home and abroad, corporate organisations, development partners and philanthropic institutions to respond when the Committee formally begins seeking support.

Assistance could include funding, building materials, logistics and technical expertise.

“Government alone cannot shoulder the task. A collective effort will accelerate the realisation of the medical store and help entrench Free Primary Health Care as a lasting legacy for the people of Oti Region,” he said.

Progress recorded despite constraints

Dr Amo-Kodieh said the region had nevertheless made progress in maternal and child health, immunisation coverage and disease surveillance.

He called for closer cooperation between the Ghana Health Service, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, development partners, traditional leaders and local communities to protect those gains and address the remaining weaknesses.

In his closing remarks, Prof. Appiah assured the Directorate that the Committee would continue to support its work.

He urged participants to ensure that the conclusions of the review meeting led to measurable improvements in healthcare delivery.

“Our success should not be measured simply by the number of activities undertaken or reports produced. It should be measured by the lives we improve, illnesses we prevent, and barriers to healthcare we remove,” he said.