Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Health Minister
Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has asked workers in the health sector to consider discourse with government over their grievances instead of embarking on strike.
The sector minister stressed that health workers in their demand for better conditions of service withdraw their service at the expense of the lives of patients, which should not be the case.
“The provision of quality healthcare which is patient centered is one of the outmost priorities of government,” he added.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu, therefore, reiterated the need for the use of dialogue to resolve issues in the sector, as government is always prepared to engage such groups in discussions.
This comes in the wake of a strike action by the physician assistants over what they consider as discrepancies in their salary.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu was speaking at the sixth induction and oath swearing ceremony of the allied health graduates who have completed their theoretical training in various tertiary training institutions.
They comprised six audiologists, 96 health promotion officers, eight community mental health officers, 64 disease control officers, six environmental health officers, 54 health information officers, 145 nutritionists, 11 dental laboratory scientists, 34 physiotherapists, 26 diagnostic radiographers and 49 dieticians.
The rest are 327 medical laboratory scientists, 113 optometrist, 21 sonographers, 12 speech therapists, five therapy radiographers and seven occupational therapists.
The minster tasked the Allied Health Professional Council to team up with relevant bodies to stop the quacks.
Prof. Clement Opoku-Okrah, an Associate Professor in Haematology & Immunohaematology, said Ghana’s health workforce is confronted with insignificant investment in healthcare education, which has been a barrier to the country attaining its SDGs targets.
“Further challenges are anticipated from an ageing health workforce and too few new recruits to replace retirees, as the health ministry was unable to engage more professional workforce due to lack of funds,” he opined.
Prof. Opoku-Okrah observed that indiscipline has affected the output of the allied health profession, adding, “An undisciplined professional is a danger to a patient, how can you positively impact of the SDGs when you spend most of your time on mobile phone talking or chatting whilst there is work to do.”
The Acting Registrar of the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) Dr. Samuel Yaw Opoku, charged the graduands to be innovative in their search for knowledge and find better ways of managing new challenges in the health sector.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri