Woman360, a franchise network of private clinics and hospitals, has opened an ultra-modern outlet at Adenta, in Accra, to provide superior quality health care service to middle-class corporate women.
The facility is targetting middle-income women seeking antenatal care and expecting shorter waiting time, and a clean/hygienic and welcoming environment with polite, friendly and knowledgeable professionals who are ready to provide care at affordable pricing.
The Woman360 is a network of private healthcare providers dedicated to issues of women’s reproductive health; it offers women high-quality and trusted healthcare services.
It provides clients maternal care by using tools and procedures that meet international standards.
“Our committed healthcare professionals attend pregnant women to provide all antenatal and delivery-care needs.
“The Women360 network uses effective standardisation of care processes, networked information system, strong monitoring and organised referral systems to operate several units of Midwife-managed antenatal clinics located close to the business offices and residential areas of our clients.”
The hospital operates with adequately-resourced staff, equipment and facilities, and receives and manages clients as it serves as a centre for all clients’ delivery, births.
Launching the facility, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Ron Strikker, confirmed that Woman360 is a franchise for high-quality antenatal and delivery services – adding that franchise is not a new concept for industries such as the airline, oil & gas, hospitality and food industries, and that “the health franchise, however, is novel – especially in our environment”.
He indicated that pregnant women will be attended to by well-trained midwives at the facility under supervision of the specialist obstetrician, adding that: “Technology is key to achieving these efficiencies. Transfer of data about a client using technology ensures that patient-records are available at both sites”.
He explained that a pregnant woman who is attended to at the hospital by a midwife will get a score, as either green, yellow or red on the app. Green means that the pregnant woman is safe to go home or back to work, and be seen at the next appointment date. Yellow means that the midwife will have to call and discuss this with the specialist obstetrician. Red means that the specialist must be informed immediately, and a referral to the hub hospital quickly effected.
This is to ensure that every pregnancy results in the delivery of a safe baby to a safe and satisfied mother.
He added: “Pregnant women will have access to our bespoke Woman360 antenatal classes and Woman360 mother and baby stand, where quality pregnancy-related, delivery-related and baby merchandise can be purchased at affordable prices.
“The Woman360 franchise is meant to accelerate entrepreneurship within the health sector in order to deliver a high-quality social good using a sustainable business model,” he said.
Available data from the World Health Organisation (WHO2010) shows that with 350 deaths per 100,000 deliveries, Ghana ranks 31st on the World Maternal Mortality Index. The infant mortality rate in Ghana is 50 (per 1000 live births) compared with 5 in high income countries.
Maternal health indicators like maternal mortality rates, lag (far) behind targets in Ghana, despite considerable progress in some domains. While the need for a strong maternal health response remains the focus of the public health sector, it is increasingly becoming clear that the public sector is not capable of providing universal access to quality maternal care on its own.
In Ghana, as in most African countries, the private sector therefore plays a crucial role in securing access to essential health services as a major supplier of all forms of care, including maternal care.