By
Albert Futukpor, GNA
Tamale, Feb. 23, GNA
– Management of the Tamale West Hospital (TWH) and the SDA Hospital have urged
the public to make use of the various reporting avenues like suggestion boxes
and complaints units to report unprofessional acts of staff.
They also gave the
assurance of their determination to address all concerns and remind their staff
of the code of conduct and client-nurse relationship to ensure quality health
care delivery.
This was the outcome
of a town hall meeting held in Tamale to find amicable solution to challenges
patients and their relatives encounter with nurses at the four main health
facilities in the Tamale Metropolis.
These are the Tamale
West Hospital, Tamale Central Hospital, SDA Hospital and the Tamale Teaching
Hospital.
The meeting was
attended by officials of some of the hospitals and the public.
The challenges
patients and their relatives encounter with nurses at the four health
facilities were raised during a scorecard assessment conducted in the Tamale
Metropolis, which included charging pregnant women illegal fees, and charges
for retrieval of bodies at the mortuaries without offering receipts.
The rest were paying
for drugs and services that were covered by the National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS), which the facilities still charge against the Scheme, and
midwives at the theatre and labour wards forcing patients to buy products such
as soaps and delivery kits from their health facilities, among other things.
The scorecard was
conducted as part of measures to Fight Unapproved Charges for Health Services
(FUCHASS) Project, being implemented by the Centre for Active Learning and
Integrated Development (CALID).
It was partnered by
the League of Youth Association and funded by the STAR-Ghana Foundation.
The FUCHASS Project,
which began in 2018 and will end in March 2020, seeks to ensure quality health
care delivery by eliminating unapproved charges and extortions by health
officials in the Tamale Metropolis.
Mr Abdulai Gomda,
the Administrator of the TWH, said those acts were illegal and reprehensible,
adding that the facility punished staff found guilty of such offences.
He advised the
public to always demand receipts for payments made at the facility, saying that
would help prevent illegal and unauthorised payments.
Mr Benjamin
Anankpeing, who represented the SDA Hospital, condemned the unprofessional acts
of the health staff and urged the public not to be discouraged by such acts to
want to seek healthcare elsewhere other than the hospitals.
Mr Mohammed Awal
Sumani Bapio, the Executive Director of CALID, commended the hospitals for the
measures put in place to curtail unprofessional acts by the staff.
He encouraged
patients and others who visited the hospitals to make good use of the customer
care centres to report their concerns to the appropriate bodies for redress.
GNA