AHSAG holds 39th Conference at Winneba

The Association of Health Service Administrators, Ghana (AHSAG) has called on the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and the Ghana Health Service Council to rectify the inequity in payment of compensation among the management teams.

It was occasioned by the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

Mr Albert Aseidu-Ofei, President of the Association made the call in a speech he delivered at the 39th Annual Conference of the body held at Winneba, on the theme: “Performance Management - A Tool for Equitable Compensation in the Health Sector.”

According to him the low placement of Health Service Administrators on the SSSS also undermines their supervisory functions as they receive less remuneration than some staff who they are supposed to supervise.

This undermines the work culture and the chain of command in the public hospitals, he added.

Mr Aseidu-Ofei pointed out that, a major issue of inequity in the health sector compensation which severely impact on the performance of members.

He stated that in all the public institutions, including health facilities, there are clear distinctions in the compensation for the management and staff.

“Management as a collective are fairly compensated for the responsibilities placed on them which obviously differs from the other staff”.

The President said directors of teaching hospitals enjoy a compensation scheme which does not discriminate between professions.

He said prior to the SSSS the health sector had its own salary structure known as the Health Salary Structure which was implemented after a rigorous job evaluation exercises and health service administrators were placed at par with their analogous grades in the so-called “Clinical Staff” Category and there was equity in compensation among the core management team of hospital.

Dr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, Central Regional Minister said in a speech delivered on his behalf that, the theme for the conference was indeed relevant, given the diversity, numbers and often specialised nature of health professionals in the sector, which obviously require team building and team work to achieve the desired positive health outcomes and goals.

He said the need for equity in the determination of the compensations and general conditions of service for the various team members is therefore compelling with far reaching implications for team cohesion, effectiveness and efficiency.

The Regional Minister said, there is no doubt that AHSAG has made significant contributions in this direction including position papers that informed the development of various performance management tools and health sector compensation schemes over the years.

He therefore urged the group to sustain the drive and help build internal capacity of teams in their facilities to be better performers and effective performance managers.