The President of the Ghana Physiotherapy Association, Dr. Jonathan Quartey on Thursday tasked the Government to be proactive and stop paying lip-services to ensure total and quality health care delivery in the country.
According to him, physiotherapists are the end-point in the health care process, and it is time policy makers noticed their importance and accord them the needed recognition and also provide them with the necessary equipment and facilities to perform better.
Dr. Quartey made this appeal in an interview with the GNA at the opening of a two day seminar in Cape Coast, organized by the Association to assess its progress and learn about their challenges.
He was unhappy that, 15 years after the government had provided 16 physiotherapy facilities across the country to bring that service to the doorstep of patients, nothing much has been done in terms of re-equipping and expansion.
The President of the Association explained that the abysmal ratio of patients to physiotherapists at the various hospitals does not permit very effective sessions with patients, indicating that, the presence of more physiotherapists would ease the work load on the few ones and enhance health care delivery.
He called for better working conditions for physiotherapists to prevent them from veering into private services and other careers.
Currently, there are an estimated 200 physiotherapists in the country with the Central Region having only four.
Physiotherapy is done to promote wellness, mobility and independent for patients who are inactive, aging or have suffered various injuries.
Other benefits of physiotherapy are the promotion of mental health and the prevention of diseases such as cancer, heart problems, diabetes and obesity, both in adults and children, whilst it recommends daily exercises, which is vital to healthy living.
Dr. Quartey said physiotherapy involves physical activity and, therefore, to ensure quality care, practitioners are to spend between 30 and 60 minutes with one patient, but due to the heavy workload, they are compelled to rush their patients through their sessions.
However, the School of Allied Sciences had since 2006, been churning out an average of 30 physiotherapists annually, but the delay in employing them after their national service, coupled with the absence of accommodation at their place of postings, makes some of them veer to other areas of interest further reducing their numbers in the country.
He wondered why taxpayers’ monies should be spent on training the physiotherapists only for them to be abandoned, whereas their services are very much needed in health facilities throughout the country.
Dr. Quartey appealed to the Ministry of Health to absorb all trained physiotherapists to beef up the skeleton staff in the system, to ensure full quality care for patients seeking that aspect of healthcare in the country.
Mr. Albert Kofi Acquah, Head of the Physiotherapy Unit at the Central Regional Hospital, re-echoed calls to the Government to ensure that all trained physiotherapists are absorbed, because their services are very much needed at the government hospitals where majority of Ghanaians seek affordable medical care.
He advised physiotherapists, especially those doing their service, to be passionate about the work, even though their work conditions may not be good.
Dr. Charles Gaetan Adangabley, the chief Physiotherapist of the Ghana Health Service, explained that the issue of accommodation will soon be a thing of the past since the new hospitals being built will address that problem for most health personnel, including Physiotherapists.
He hinted that very soon, some district hospitals being built at Sekondi, Takoradi, Fomena and other districts will have physiotherapists.
