Good health is incontrovertibly man's greatest asset and so does the wealth of a nation derives from the health of its citizenry. Poor socio-economic development cannot be extricated from a poor healthcare system and vice versa.
Nations with higher life expectancy and improved quality of life are conspicuously more advanced and still advancing faster than low - income countries that have relatively lower life expectancy. Thus, fundamental to Africa's developmental agenda is the health of its people. The need to drastically reduce the disease burden, improve quality of life, expand access to healthcare, strengthen healthcare - providing facilities to meet the advancing complexities of medical care and the attendant effect of these on the health of manpower requirements of Africa cannot be overemphasized.
Health is a fundamental human right which seems ellusive to most populations, particularly in Sub - Saharan Africa.
In the centre of delivering health to the population are Healthcare Service Providers or medical attempting to carry healthcare to the doorstep of the population in the sense of accessibility and affordability. The healthcare terrain in Africa is still in the crawling stage largely concentrated on primary healthcare. Most facilities find themselves poorly resourced and poorly equipped to deliver world class healthcare.
The inability to afford basic healthcare has as a matter of course led to the resort to Health Insurance (both public and private) to offer financial risk protection to the population. Good as this is, it is fraught with major challenges for Healthcare Providers as far as equal value reimbursement on claims and promptness of same from Insurance companies for services provided is concerned. Most HSPs perceive the insurance system as a necessary evil and at whose mercy they are (an unfortunate take - it or leave - it). Many facilities find themselves in the financial quagmire and the vicious cycle continuous as facilities fight feebly as lone rangers for their due. The financial inadequacy of HSPs to procure equipment keeps getting unsurmountable with increasing cost globally. Training and retention of healthcare workers is a challenge as well. This trend without any intervention or concerted effort to rally providers together with a stronger voice will only see relegation into primary healthcare delivery to the detriment of the population.
It is time to open the frontiers of health service provision in Africa to the fast - emerging advances in world - class medical technology and practice for Africa. In this regard, putting Healthcare Service Providers under one Chamber portends great potential for achieving affordable, accessible healthcare for all and also greater bargaining power of service providers with stakeholders and other players in the industry including government of nations. This is the lacuna the Chamber of Healthcare Service Providers is going to fill and dive healthcare in Ghana and Africa onto a world pedestal.

- Dr. Dennis B. Bortey