Dr Sugri commends WAHO

Dr Alfred Tia Sugri, Deputy Minister of Health, has commended the West African Health organisation (WAHO) and Colleges for their role in developing human resource to handle health facilities in ECOWAS.

He said: “I commend the WAHO for proving to be a formidable force for the continued improvement of our human resource provision of health services in the West African sub-region, in spite of fiscal and technical challenges.”

Dr Sugri, who gave the commendation in a statement copied to Ghana News Agency in Accra on training facilities, also expressed his gratitude to WAHO for organising the 10th Health Administrators and West African Colleges in Accra last week.

The Post Graduate Colleges that have been established in some countries of the sub-region are tasked to advance professional education and training in all medical, pharmaceutical, and nursing disciplines.

They are also responsible for promoting and achieving high standard of professional practice and competence.

Dr Sugri expressed satisfaction at the performance of the professionals in the face of brain drain, mal-distribution of inadequate health personnel and lack of opportunities for career development.

He advised the health administrators to capitalise on the shortfalls in the distribution of health professionals to forge ahead to find lasting solutions to their age-long challenges.

“Indeed, diseases do not know boundaries and therefore if we do not act fast to turn ECOWAS vision to our advantage, our economies which are largely dependent on the health status of the people will certainly crumble as we watch helplessly,” he cautioned.

He said ECOWAS could only succeed in unlocking the potential of quality health care in the region by tremendously training more professionals in nursing, medical and pharmaceutical services.

The deputy minister said the health ministers and administrators in the region have the responsibility of exploring every available alternative that would lead to improve the capacities of more people to efficiently handle health issues.

“The opportunity here (region) lies in the fact that we have the commitment of our health ministers who are very interested directly in the affairs of the WAHO.”