Oti Health Committee pushes for medical store to strengthen Free Primary Healthcare

By Hubeyidatu Mumuni 

The Oti Regional Health Committee is mobilising stakeholders to support the establishment of a regional medical store in Worawora to improve access to essential medicines and strengthen the implementation of Free Primary Health Care in the region.

Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Mark Appiah, announced the initiative at the 2026 Half-Year Performance Review Meeting of the Oti Regional Health Directorate held in Worawora.

The meeting, held under the theme, “Implementing Free Primary Health Care in Oti Region: Where Resources and Activities Meet,” brought together Ghana Health Service officials, District Directors of Health Services, development partners, traditional leaders and other stakeholders.

Prof. Appiah said the review was an opportunity to assess progress, identify gaps and agree on practical measures to improve healthcare delivery. He noted that distance, transportation difficulties, poverty and inadequate infrastructure continued to limit access to healthcare, particularly in remote communities.

He stressed that Free Primary Health Care must translate into tangible benefits for residents, including access to essential maternal and child health services, medicines and qualified personnel without unnecessary financial or geographical barriers.

“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,” he said.

Prof. Appiah identified delays in the distribution of medicines and essential supplies as a major challenge and said the Committee had therefore prioritised the establishment of a regional medical store in Worawora.

He explained that the facility would strengthen the region’s capacity to store and distribute medicines and other health commodities promptly, reducing its dependence on supplies from other regions. “In healthcare, having the prescription is not enough — the medicine must also be available,” he stressed.

The Committee, he added, had also begun steps to properly document, demarcate and secure legal title to Ghana Health Service lands across the region, starting from Worawora. The exercise will involve the Lands Commission, traditional authorities and district assemblies to prevent encroachment and future disputes.

“We cannot 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,” Prof. Appiah said.

Oti Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Kofi Amo-Kodieh, welcomed the proposed medical store, describing it as a potentially transformative project for a region that currently has no central medical storage facility.

He disclosed that the region also faces a shortage of 3,592 health workers needed for the optimal operation of health facilities across its nine districts and municipalities. He said the shortage was placing pressure on existing staff and affecting services, particularly at hard-to-reach CHPS compounds and health centres.

Dr Amo-Kodieh said the absence of a regional medical store also contributed to delays and occasional stock-outs because the region depended on supplies from other areas. He therefore appealed to Oti natives at home and abroad, corporate organisations, development partners and philanthropic institutions to support the project with funding, materials, logistics and technical assistance.

“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.

Despite the challenges, Dr Amo-Kodieh said the region had recorded progress in maternal and child health, immunisation and disease surveillance. Prof. Appiah urged stakeholders to build on those gains, stressing that the success of healthcare interventions should ultimately be measured by the lives improved and barriers removed.