By Godfred Aaneamenga Polkuu, GNA
Bolgatanga, Sept 15, GNA – Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, the Director-General (DG) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has urged health managers to assess and redistribute medical equipment within and across regions to ensure valuable resources are used at facilities with trained personnel.
He observed that there were some district hospitals with x-ray and other medical equipment without professionals to operate them and encouraged managers of such facilities to redistribute them to facilities with the required human resources.
Dr Akoriyea was speaking at the 33rd Annual General Conference of District Directors of Health Group (DDH-G), Ghana, held in Bolgatanga on the theme: “From Policy to Practice: The DDHS Driving Free Primary Health Care in Ghana.”
He urged regional and district health authorities to undertake what he described as a “second retooling” exercise, involving assessment of equipment alongside the availability of human resources.
“Do a second retooling to assess your equipment, your human resource, and redistribute within the district and within the region,” Dr Akoriyea said.
“Where necessary, he said equipment should also be moved between regions instead of being left idle, “If there is the need for interregional redistribution, let’s do it,” he added.
The DG warned against keeping equipment unused just because it had been supplied by the government, noting that medical equipment could deteriorate, while health facilities continued to request additional resources.
“Don’t keep equipment that will rust when you don’t have the human resource and ask government to give more equipment,” he cautioned.
Dr Akoriyea cited the example of an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine acquired during the treatment of conjoined twins and explained that because the GHS facility which held the machine did not regularly undertake procedures for which it was intended, an arrangement was made for the University of Ghana Medical Centre to use it.
“They took the equipment, I followed up, participated in heart surgeries and saw the equipment been used throughout 26 surgeries, and all of them were Ghanaians,” he said.
The DG said the experience demonstrated the importance of sharing resources across institutions instead of allowing expensive equipment to remain idle.
He further urged health managers to focus on solving problems at the local level through supportive supervision rather than simply identifying shortcomings and punishing staff.
“Supportive supervision is not to go find challenges with people and then castigate them. It means help the people find local solutions,” the DG, who is the Patron of the DDH-G said.
He said frontline workers should be supported to perform their duties effectively, rather than having senior managers take over their responsibilities.
The call comes as the GHS implements the Free Primary Health Care programme, with the DG insisting that effective use of existing infrastructure, equipment and personnel would be critical to the success of the programme.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Godfred Aaneamenga Polkuu
Reporter’s email address: [email protected]