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HEALTH

Health centres fast becoming CHPS compounds – Health Director

Many health centres are fast becoming Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds owing to the inadequate number of Physician Assistants.

Date Created : 2/19/2018 2:39:32 AM : Story Author : GNA

Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, who made the observation during the 2017 Health Performance Review Meeting, said he has started some discussions to increase the number of physician assistants in the region.

To this end, he said negotiations are ongoing with some partners who are prepared to offer some form of scholarship to staff willing to pursue further studies to become Physician Assistants.

On the issue of data, he said during an internal review session, it came to light that some districts were performing well while others were still performing below average with regards to data entry into the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS).

“For us at the Regional Health Directorate, the delay in entering data into the DHIMS is an indication of your failure as Managers to take control of affairs in your Budget Management Centers (BMCs)”, he said.

“We expect that Managers ensure that the necessary resources are provided to officers entering data in DHIMS so that they can perform their duties effectively and efficiently”, he said.

Dr Nuertey reminded staff that as health workers, they must uphold the virtues and values of Ghana Health Service (GHS) by demonstrating that they were ready to provide quality and accessible health care services to their people.

“In fact, by using what I call the iceberg model of assessment, it was noted that though we have good knowledge and skills, our performance and the ability to achieve set targets really depends on the competences that lie beneath and this include values, self-image, personality traits and motives”, he said.

The Regional Director of Health Services said as they reviewed their performance, they should find ways of addressing these attitudinal challenges.

Mr Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, Acting Upper West Regional Minister in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Abdulai Abubakar, the Regional Coordinating Director, said optimal data is essential to enrich the planning process for health care delivery.

He said quality data was indispensable in the quest for health facilities to provide the needed services that they desired in the areas of disease prevention, promotion and maintenance of good health, longevity, provision of medications and equipment as well as improving on staffing.

“Every sector of the health delivery system and indeed every sector of the human endeavour that requires accurate understanding of what happened and what to project hinges on reliable data”, he emphasized.

Mr Issahaku noted that unfortunately, over the years they have not been meticulous as a people in the relevance of data management, stressing that sometimes you find different reports from different sources or even same source could provide different data.

The Acting Regional Minister noted that the issue of quality data was particularly critical to the health sector and urged management to pay greater attention to data collection and data management while encouraging persons engaged in data collection to endeavour to be professional.

The 2017 Regional Health Performance Review was held under the theme: “Achieving optimal data quality for enhancing planning, decision making and implementation of health intervention in the Upper West Region”.