Fourth NCHS conference opens in Kumasi

Kumasi, Oct. 26, GNA - Health service providers have been urged to provide quality health service at the right time for clients. Dr Joaquim Saweka, World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, who made the call, said failure by health service providers to provide quality service at the right time, would be contributing to the production of unhealthy population and its negative repercussions on the individual, households, society and the national economy at large.

He was speaking at the opening of the 4th annual National Catholic Health Service (NCHS) conference in Kumasi on Wednesday. The three-day conference is under the theme, "Quality in Hhealth Care Delivery: The Systems Approach".

Dr Saweka also charged health planners and service providers to aspire to design and deliver service in a systemic manner so that the various components would work in unison with one another for the derivation of the best outcome.

He said the WHO had long recognised the role of non public sector, especially the missions in health care delivery and that the African Regional Office of the WHO was fostering its relationships with NGOs and non public organisations to have direct working relations with it. Dr Saweka advised the NCHS to be abreast with the recent trends in the health sector by being conversant with the policies and strategies in the country.

Most Rev Thomas Kwaku Mensah, Episcopal Chairman for Health, said the church would not, in anyway, entertain strike actions by its health workers no matter the circumstances and commended Catholic health workers for staying at post during the recent strike actions embarked by health workers in the country.

He stressed the need for the institution of ethical norms in the country to ensure that all workers subscribed to it in order to reduce the frequent strike actions in the country. Most Rev. Mensah, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Obuasi, spoke against abortion and said abortion must not in anyway be recognised or accepted as family planning method in the country. He said there was the need for intensive education on safe motherhood and not abortions.

Dr. Gilbert Buckle, Executive Secretary, Department of Health of the Catholic Church, commended district assemblies for supporting Catholic health institutions in their areas in the form of the provision of infrastructure and other equipment. He called for a collective responsibility to ensure that Ghanaians received quality health care in the country. 26 Oct. 06