By Frank Kwame Abbor
Ho, Oct. 02, GNA – Dr Oliver Commey, the Director of Infectious Diseases, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, has called for increased investment in nurses through adequate staffing, equipment, professional development and improved working conditions to strengthen healthcare delivery and sustain the Free Primary Healthcare programme.
He made the call at the launch of the Volta Regional Branch of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) week-long celebration in Ho on Wednesday.
The theme of the celebration is: “Our Nurses, Our Future: Empowered Nurses Save Lives.”
Dr Commey said nurses were central to virtually every health intervention, from emergency care and maternal health to disease prevention, outbreak surveillance and long-term management of chronic conditions.
“The more important question is: Have we empowered them adequately to save as many lives as they are capable of saving?” he asked.
He said empowerment went beyond recognition and praise, requiring adequate equipment, essential medicines, diagnostic facilities, functional referral systems, appropriate staffing and opportunities for continuous professional development.
“A certificate that is displayed on the wall does not save the deteriorating patient. It is only competence that will save that particular patient,” he said.
Dr Commey cautioned against treating exhaustion and excessive workloads as evidence of dedication, stressing that nurses needed the authority, resources and institutional support to perform their duties safely. He also called for nurses to be represented in decisions on health service delivery, workforce planning, quality improvement and patient safety.
He said the growing demand for healthcare, changing disease patterns, emerging infections and new technologies required continuous training, mentorship, clinical simulation and specialty education, adding that nurses must be empowered to recognise deteriorating patients and raise alarms without professional hierarchy obstructing urgent intervention.
On the Free Primary Healthcare programme, Dr Commey said the removal of financial barriers would increase attendance at health facilities and place additional pressure on nurses, particularly at community-based facilities.
“A policy can remove the fee. Only a health worker can deliver the job,” he said, emphasising that nurses would determine whether the programme translated into early detection, prevention and effective treatment.
He said successful implementation required adequate numbers of nurses and midwives, including trained professionals awaiting employment, clear clinical protocols, reliable medicines and equipment, and functional referral systems, particularly for communities in difficult-to-reach areas of the Volta Region.
“If the nurses are to carry the Free Primary Healthcare programme, the programme must also carry the nurses,” he stressed.
Dr Commey urged nurses to take responsibility for their own professional growth through evidence-based practice, mentorship, ethical conduct and continuous learning, while calling on government, health managers and institutions to invest in and listen to them.
He said empowering nurses would strengthen patient safety, improve healthcare decisions and help Ghana achieve universal health coverage, adding that the theme must be reflected in actual working conditions and patient outcomes rather than remain a slogan.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Benjamin Mensah