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Ghana Health Service records poor
performance in 2006 due to numerous strike actions
Accra, April 10, GNA - The continuous strike action embarked
upon by health workers has contributed to the poor
performance of the Service's health care delivery.
It has also contributed to the decline in utilization of
services from the health facilities, whilst Out-Patient per
capita income, In-Patient admissions and many other hospital
indicators also suffered decline in 2006.
This was made known by Dr Frank Nyonator, Director of
Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) of GHS in
an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on
Tuesday after Ghana Health Service's (GHS) first Senior
Managers Meeting over the weekend in Agona Swedru to review
their performance for 2006 programme of work.
He explained that the numerous strike actions that occurred
last year came from, the junior doctors, consultants and
Health Workers Groups which comprised nurses and other
supporting staff in health care delivery.
The Meeting, which is organised annually, was to share
experiences on best service delivery practices, update the
Senior Managers of the Service on key strategies areas,
reflect on the ten years implementation of the Service ACT
525 which spells out the mandate and responsibilities of the
GHS and the teaching Hospitals and define the strategic
direction with the newly appointed Director-General, Dr
Elias Sory.
Dr Nyonator noted that the decline in Out-Patients
attendance affected each region with a national total of
11,611,763 attendance recorded in 2006 as compared to
11,650,188 attendance recorded in 2005.
Upper West region recorded the lowest Out Patient attendance
with 339,923, attendance in 2005 to 259,205 in 2006.
Upper East region followed next with 561,182 recorded in the
Out Patient attendance in 2005 and dropped 538,202 in 2006.
Hospital admissions nationally, also dropped from 800,437
admissions in 2005 to 728,926 admissions in 2006. Upper West
region again recorded the lowest admission cases from 36,047
in 2005 to 259,205 admissions in 2006.
"The meeting recommended that some regions have best
practices and such best practices needed to be well
documented and disseminated for others to emulate".
The PPME Director told the GNA that aside the strike action
contributing to the poor performance of the Service, other
issues such as inadequate budgetary provision, irregular
flow of funds, and added that the meeting recommended that
financial management and internal audit systems be
strengthened whilst the service would deploy Information
Communication and Technology to support decentralization in
all sectors.
The guinea worm disease, he said, was noted as a problem and
new strategies such as inaction of bylaws to prevent people
from contaminating water sources, improving availability of
portable water in all endemic areas, and strengthening of
community based surveillance systems were devised for its
total eradication. Ghana ranks second on the world table
next to Sudan.
On Human Resource, inadequate human resources and ageing of
the workforce were seen as key issues and cited that most
medical assistances and enrolled nurses were almost due for
retirement but there were no trained people for replacement.
He explained that midwives were lacking, imbalance in the
mix of cadres, over reliance on casual staff, high attrition
of staff, low motivation and poor staff attitude towards
work were also key issues which the meeting identified and
recommended that trainees such as community health nurses,
midwives, and staff nurses be bonded for a period of three
years in their regions whilst management of training
institutions be brought back as part of the Regional Health
Services administration within the GHS.
"Motivation of staff through acquisition of land for staff,
provision of birthday cards and medical examination for
staff are all ideas considered to address the poaching of
GHS staff by other health facilities outside GHS", the PPME
Director noted.
The meeting advocated for effective collaboration, advocacy
and dialogue with District Assemblies, other sectors to
improve health systems, collaboration with Ghana Private
Road and Transport Unit for emergency transport for
referrals, cross border integrated service delivery and
collaboration with traditional healers and leaders including
queen mothers.
The Senior Managers meeting pledged to improve service
delivery and rededicate themselves towards a better
performance in 2007 and subsequent years.
The new Director-General, Dr Sory noted that his focus was
to examine managerial factors with special attention on
working relationships and team building.
He urged all to adopt mentorship to develop people who will
in-turn take over from them and also exhibit the qualities
of fairness, firmness, punctuality, commitment and
transparency in their workplaces.
"We must understand that health delivery in Ghana is not
only dictated by the health needs of people living in the
country, but also by international treaties or organizations
which Ghana is a signatory. These must add to guide our
strategic direction and the implementation process", he
added.
GNA
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