By Ewoenam Kpodo
Ho, Oct 07, GNA- The Director-General, Ghana Health Service (GHS) has charged Medical Superintendents to be the hope to citizens in their positions, saying leadership at every level is key to making free primary healthcare succeed.
Addressing the 24th Annual General and Scientific Conference of the Medical Superintendents Group in Ho, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea said President John Mahama could not be everywhere, which was why ministers, directors and medical superintendents were appointed.
“Each one of you, you are the President in your position. You also have to give hope to the people. That is the leadership that will make people within your community happy to come to your health facility.”
To drive home his point, he recounted the story of 87-year-old Benjamin Kuri, who he met in a village near Wa with community health nurses during a visit with President Mahama.
Dr Akoriyea said Mr Kuri, born in 1939, 18 years before Ghana’s independence, sustained a disabling injury in 1972 and was sent back to Dafiano village. For 54 years he never visited a hospital due to distance, cost and fear, until a recent home visit found him double disabled on a worn-out chair.
“This is for those who don’t believe free primary healthcare exists,” he said, adding that the encounter was a reminder that parents especially those in the villages sacrificed to educate their children with the hope they would give back.
Dr Akoriyea mentioned 135 districts as now implementing free primary healthcare, with 3,774 CHPS zones active, over 2.5 million clients registered and more than 800,000 home visits conducted, warning that referrals would cause overflow at district and regional hospitals and announced a patient navigator system to manage it.
He spoke against hoarding of equipment and drugs, saying a facility keeping X-ray machines without radiographers and refusing to share medicines with other facility(ies) in need would be doing a disservice to the Ghanaian public.
“Do your best, do something for your facility, leave a legacy. We have come too far but it’s also time to change. Times have changed and you must also change,” he encouraged
The Director-General cited some interventions and policies for the medical doctors and announced plans in the interest of staff of the GHS.
Prof Lydia Aziato, Vice-Chancellor of University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho shared a personal experience of inadequate healthcare service, highlighting the variability in healthcare quality across different facilities and regions and urged healthcare leaders to do their best in their responsibilities, knowing they could be consumers of same service.
Dr Gina Teddy, who represented the GHS Council reiterated that leadership was key in achieving every policy, saying government could only make the free healthcare policy but its successful implementation lied on healthcare leaders, hence the need for them to do things differently and adapt notwithstanding the constraints.
The ongoing conference (October 05-10) is being held on the theme, “Leadership and Innovation in Free Primary Healthcare towards Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Ghana: The Role of Medical Superintendents.”
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah /Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Ewoenam Kpodo, GNA
Email: [email protected]