The Acting Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, has called for an integration of all divisions of the Service to enhance its operations and progress.
According to him, the lack of integration of the divisions of the GHS to enable them to work in close collaboration over the past years had slowed its progress.
He said that the integration of the various divisions of the GHS to enhance its operations and progress could be achieved through collective collaboration and the inclusion of staff participation.
Prof. Akoriyea made the call at the annual performance review of the GHS held at the Health Promotion Division in Accra yesterday.
The purpose of the performance review was to assess the performance of the GHS last year to identify the progress that was made, the challenges faced, and also profess solutions to the challenges.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Akoriyea said the situation where some of the divisions were under-resourced as compared to others was not encouraging.
He, therefore, urged the Director of the Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation division to ensure that resources were pulled for the benefit of all the workers of the various divisions and ensure their integration.
Furthermore, Prof. Akoriyea charged the directors of the various divisions to promote inclusive participation of workers and also ensure that they deliver services effectively.
“My attention has been drawn to the fact that some of you the directors, deputy directors and programme managers of the various divisions often ignore the GHS staff who have been employed to work with you and rather give the job to volunteers,” he stated.
“I am also well informed that there are drivers who have never gone on a trek while they are other drivers who are always on trek. That is not a good thing, and we need to change. We need to do things where every GHS worker participates actively to enhance its operations and progress,” Prof. Akoriyea added.
The Ag Director General also promised to ensure the equal allocation of resources to the various divisions, especially the research and development division in order to enhance their research work.
Moreover, he said that the research centres across the country, the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Navrongo University would now be affiliated to the GHS to enable staff who conduct research to become associate professors and not consultants.
Prof. Akoriyea promised to oversee the rebounding of the GHS and prioritise the welfare of staff of the Service.
There were presentations by the directors of the various divisions of the GHS during the review to assess their performance last year.
Some of the divisions that were present at the performance review were the Health Promotion Division, the Human Resource Division, the Institutional Care Division, Family Health Division, Research and Development Division, Public Health Division, Policy, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Division and the Office of the Director General of the GHS.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
