ACCRA, GHANA, and SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO AM) - Honorable Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Ghana’s minister of health, and Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and CEO of Sanford Health, jointly announced today the Ministry of Health and Sanford have joined together in a public-private partnership to bring health care to millions of additional people across Ghana.
This new relationship is intended to assist the Ghanaian government in improving maternity care and reducing the infant mortality rate. This new agreement will give Sanford International Clinics the opportunity to add more than 300 clinics in Ghana by 2020 and is expected to serve 4.5 million patients annually over the same time period.
"It's encouraging to see the positive contributions that Sanford is committed to making with our health care system to complement the public sector," said Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, director general of Ghana Health Services.
The main focus of the public-private partnership is to improve access in peri-urban and rural areas and allow patients to access primary care services closer to home.
Kojo Taylor, president of Sanford International Clinic-Ghana, believes this new relationship will make a significant impact.
"Much of the rural population in Ghana does not have access to basic care,” said Taylor. “The addition of these clinics will greatly change the scope of health care across the nation. Thousands of families will no longer be forced to travel for basic services."
Sanford International Clinics first formed a relationship with the Ghana Ministry of Health when it opened a clinic in Cape Coast in January 2012. Since that time, Sanford has opened four additional clinics in Mankessim, Kasoa, Kojokrom and Adenta. Sanford clinics have treated more than 180,000 patients in Ghana.
“Our work with the Ministry of Health has the potential to create thousands of clinics in Ghana,” said Jim Slack, Sanford Health vice president of Sanford International Clinics. “It is our intent to give the people of Ghana greater access to physicians and health care services, and we are most appreciative of the good working relationship we have with the minister of health."