By Godfred Aaneamenga Polkuu, GNA
Bolgatanga, Sept. 1, GNA – The Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Upper East Region, has organized a one-day training programme for Human Resource (HR) officers on an upgraded Human Resource Information Management System (HRIMS).
The training programme was intended to improve staff data management and support effective decision-making.
It brought together about 36 HR officers drawn from the 15 districts and municipalities, hospitals and three officers from the GHS headquarters.
The programme was conducted in three main sessions, which began with a presentation on the upgraded platform, followed by a practical session designed to give participants hands-on experience in using the system.
Mr Kelvin Fartama Tengekyebe, the Upper East Regional Deputy Director of HR, GHS, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the programme, explained that the training was intended to familiarize HR officers with the new features of the upgraded platform and equip them to use it effectively.
“The meeting basically was an orientation or training on the upgraded HRIMS,” the HR Director said.
He said the HRIMS served as a central platform to capture and manage information on staff of the GHS and other participating health institutions.
Mr Tengekyebe said the HRIMS contained details such as employees’ educational backgrounds and other relevant personnel information.
He added that the platform also functioned as an important HR management tool capable of providing information for nominal rolls, gap analysis and other staff management activities.
“It is basically a platform that captures all staff details and data, and then an HR management tool that gives the nominal roll and can also give gap analysis and all other staff management practices,” he explained.
Mr Tengekyebe said the upgraded system included several additional tools, particularly features designed to make reporting and analysis easier, and that the platform was used by about seven other agencies, including some teaching hospitals, which made accurate and consistent data management essential.
The Deputy Director noted that the training was not only aimed at introducing the new features but also at improving the quality of information entered into the system.
“After the exercise, we expect that the HR officers should be able to use the tool effectively and also to improve on the data quality on the system,” Mr Tengekyebe said.
Emphasizing the importance of accurate information in human resource management, the Deputy Director stressed that the quality of decisions depended heavily on the quality of data available.
“Data is everything and what is put in is what you get,” he said, and cited the familiar information technology principle: “garbage in, garbage out.”
He said HR officers were trained to acquire the necessary skills to enter reliable information into the system, which would ultimately help management to make informed decisions on human resource issues.
The HR Director expressed the expectation that the knowledge acquired during the exercise would translate into more effective use of the HRIMS and improved staff data quality across the participating institutions.
The initiative forms part of efforts by the GHS to strengthen human resource information management and ensure that reliable staff data was available to support planning, analysis and decision-making within the health sector.
Madam Mercy Assibi Anoyani, the HR officer at the Upper East Regional Hospital, who participated in the training, commended the GHS for the initiative and said the upgraded system would help improve their work.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Godfred Aaneamenga Polkuu
Reporter’s email: [email protected]
