Amend the LI that establishes MoH/GHS

Hohoe, July 23, GNA - Dr Elias Sory, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Monday called for an amendment of the legislative instrument that established the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to facilitate swift response to contemporary issues.

Providing the rationale for his call, he said, it should be possible for an auxiliary staff in the service to progress academically to become a Director-General but the current law makes that difficult. Dr Sory said there should be innovative programmes designed by the School of Public Health for instance to upgrade skills and competences of staff but the legislations does not allow for that. Dr Sory was reacting to questions from health professionals at a staff durbar in Hohoe as part of his four-day tour of facilities in the northern part of the region.

He said just as it was in the educational sector, health professionals should be allow to explore and upgrade themselves academically through top-up programmes, which would reposition them strategically for promotion, preventive and curative health service delivery.

He said amending the legislation have to be fast-tracked because of the prevailing inconsistencies in the placement and scoring of certificates and diplomas in the Ghana Health Service. Dr Sory called on professional associations in the Service to put their houses in order and assist management to resolve the anomalies. He warned that his administration would not tolerate unprofessionalism on the part of any health professional especially those with monetary motives noting that he would not spare anyone whose act of omission or commission would drive the service name into disrepute

"One mistake could rundown the whole sector and people with such characters must withdraw now before they became a disaster in the future", the Director-General said.

He assured the gathering of fairness and equity in the distribution of services, infrastructure and incentive packages with special dispensation towards professionals discharging duties in deprived areas. Dr Edwin Danoo, Medical Superintendent of the Hohoe Municipal hospital, who earlier conducted Dr Sory round some departments of the hospital, identified inadequate staffing and dilapidation of facilities for quick attention. 23 July 09