Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHA), Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has announced plans exist to establish staff clinics in all regional hospitals across the country to serve as establishments that specifically cater for the health needs of health workers.
He noted that effective health planning will not yield the needed dividends if GHS does not take care of the health workforce that delivers the service.
“I have, as a result, directed the Institutional Care Division to put in plans for the establishment of staff clinics that will see to the health needs of our staff,” he said.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye also revealed that the GHS Council has revisited the staff Medical Reinsurance Scheme, and have set in motion plans to relocate the GHS Headquarters to Pantang by the first quarter of next year.
The Director-General disclosed this on the sidelines of a three-day second Ghana Health Service (GHS) Senior Managers’ Meeting (SMM II) in Accra.
The 2022 meeting, with support from USAID, was themed: ‘Promoting Healthcare Planning for Healthy Lives: Where Healthcare Systems Meet Healthy Behaviour’. The objective of the meeting was to take a renewed look at how the GHS, together with its managers, could match their performance thus far, with proactive health planning to address the healthcare needs of Ghanaians. The meeting was also to synergise to enhance health-seeking behaviours and protect the health of families and communities.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye also added that the service embarked on a number of e-health strategies, such as the digitalisation of health provision processes, leveraging smart office to make work environments green, sustainable and conducive, as well as IT solutions to manage the fleet, personnel records and health information.
He was hopeful that the three-day meeting would provide the opportunity to situate the evolving trends at the centre of their strategies to ensure the availability of essential healthcare services to the populations in need. He urged the regional managers not to relent on their efforts and contributions to improve the provision of healthcare services, and ensure that quality Universal Health Coverage was not compromised.
On his part, Country Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Francis Kasolo, commended the GHS for the meeting, and pledged WHO’s continued support in ensuring that Ghana’s health delivery system is responsive, coordinated along the life course and achieved the UHC targets.
He said: “Issues of integration and accountability for stronger health system performance and improved health outcomes are important. I, therefore, urge that implementation of reforms should not shift service delivery from fragmented programmes”.
This, he said, would ensure provider-centred models of care to ensure there is increased access to a continuum of care.
Professor Ahmed Nuhu Zakariah, Chief Executive Officer of the National Ambulance Service, in a remark made on his behalf, said the Emergency Response System needed urgent collaboration to be more efficient. He appealed to the GHS to appreciate the role of the National Ambulance Service, and that means of transport of the service should be looked at in the emergency care of patients to prevent recent happenings.
Prof. Zakariah, in the interim, called for an emergency fund to help in the transportation of patients during emergencies. The 2022 second Senior Managers Meeting also saw the launch of the 2022-2026 National Health Promotion Strategy. Institutions and development partners at the event include Coalition of NGOs in Health, the National Ambulance Service, Ghana Association of Quasi-Government Health Institutions, Christian Health Association of Ghana, World Health Organisation and USAID.
