By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, Aug. 23, GNA – The Director-General (DG) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has called on managers of the Service not to frustrate staff duly qualified for promotion or transfer.
He said there were policy guidelines on promotions and transfers within the Service and emphasized that no staff duly qualified for promotion or transfer should be frustrated or denied.
Some staff of the Service, especially nurses and midwives duly qualified for promotion and transfer were often denied by some Human Resource (HR) Managers.
The DG noted was unacceptable, saying “It is extremely important that when somebody is due for promotion, there should be no delay.
“If someone has spent a certain period in a particular location, and asks for transfer, there should not be an obstacle as long as the person meets the requirements,” he said.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye made the call when he addressed the mid-year performance review meeting of the GHS in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
The meeting was on the theme: “Using Network of Practice to drive universal access to quality maternal health care in the Upper East Region,” and brought together Municipal and District Directors of the Service, Medical Superintendents, senior managers and stakeholders.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye emphasized that Customer Care was important and that it was a two-arm affair, “The first arm is the service we offer to our clients. We tend to focus so much on that, but I think as service providers, we also need Customer Care.
“So, I am charging HR Managers that the people who provide Customer Care to them are human resources. These are extremely important so that, as you give your people Customer Care, they see the value in receiving such services.
“That goes for not only HR, but for all managers, that you treat your subordinates appropriately so that they see the value of the proper services that they receive, because they are also receiving services from you,” the DG said.
He noted that the greatest capacity of the GHS was human resources, and said plans were in place to develop a GHS Institute to train and upgrade staff knowledge.
“In the next two months, some training will start, and that is going to ensure that people don’t move from one level to the other without any added value,” Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.
He said there would be structured courses that staff would undertake to move to the next level, “That is all towards building capacity, so that we can have a more structured institution that can routinely offer capacity training.”
To support movement of staff to remote areas for continuous service delivery, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said about 1,250 motorbikes and some tricycles with booths to carry consumables would be supplied to boost service delivering.
He added that the Service also received about six new boats and would soon start boat services to transport staff across rivers to deliver healthcare services, all in bit to accelerate the attainment of Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
GNA