The Bishop responsible for Health, Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, has paid a working visit to three Dioceses as part of his strategy to gain firsthand information and experience of the operations of the various facilities and staff welfare within the Catholic Health Service.
He was accompanied by the Director of Health, Mr. George A. Adjei (Esq) and a team of Senior Officers from the National Catholic Health Service.
The Dioceses visited were Sekondi-Takoradi, Wiawso and Obuasi.
The team paid courtesy calls on the respective Diocesan Bishops, Regional Directors of Health, Chiefs and Elders of communities where the facilities are cited. The Bishop thanked the Chiefs and Elders for their generous donation of parcels of land to the church for the citing of the health facilities and pledged the church’s commitment to ensuring that the poor and marginalized are cared for as instructed by our Lord Jesus Christ, whose healing ministry the church seeks to continue. He further called on the Regional Directors’ of Health to strengthen the existing partnership between the Catholic Health and the Ghana Health Services for the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian.
Addressing the staff at the various durbars organized at their facilities, the Bishop thanked the staff for their sacrifice in taking care of the sick and accepting to serve the church and humanity in such deprived communities. He expressed his appreciation for their selfless dedication to the course of humanity and reiterated the need for them to see their profession as a divine calling to serve God and not for material possessions.
He charged authorities at the hospitals to strongly maintain the catholic identity in all of their operations, being inspired by Christ’s love for mankind.
He assured all staff that matters’ affecting their welfare was of paramount interest to him so he would impress upon the leadership at the facility levels to find solutions to them. Most Rev. Agyekum further entreated them to get in touch with the secretariat to be abreast with policies and guidelines in the health sector so they can make informed and guided decisions in their operations.
The Bishop implored the staff to develop and maintain good maintenance culture- to take care of properties and equipment they inherited and not to render them dysfunctional whilst in their custody.
Mr. George A. Adjei (ESQ) on his part applauded the efforts and commitment of staff to quality health care delivery, over the years.
He promised all staff with Human Resource challenges that their concerns will be addressed and promised an orientation and induction service for all newly recruits into the service. He intimated that the secretariat is making every effort to ensure the posting of appropriate staff skill- mix to all facilities.
He charged management of the various facilities to develop and execute a strategic plan that will see them expand infrastructure and services so they can be relevant to the current competition in the health sector.
Notable among the setbacks to effective delivery at most of the Health Centers and Clinics visited were the high cost of electricity bills, the unavailability of a refrigerator for vaccines used by nurses for child welfare clinics and lack of basic medical equipment. The facilities therefore made passionate appeal to all public-spirited individuals and organizations to assist them in securing at least 4KV generators, refrigerators and basic medical equipment such as mobile x-ray machines, autoclaves, and delivery beds to improve the quality of healthcare delivery for the people.
Needing urgent support in the form of generator sets and refrigerators are the Mother of God Health Center, Esaase Bontefufu and the St. Louis Health Center, Bodwesango.
The Team from the National Catholic Health Service that accompanied the Bishop included Mr. Ivan Essegbey, Senior Coordinator for Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Lawrence Ofosu Adjare, Senior Coordinator for Health Management Systems, Dr. Anita Appiah, and Coordinator for Community and Institutional Care, Mr. Gabriel Nii Otu Ankrah, Deputy Coordinator – Projects, Dorothy Quaye (Mrs), Ag. Manager, Pooled Procurement Programme), and Abigail Yahaya (Ms), Senior Technical and Administrative Assistant.
Amongst the facilities visited were the Holy Child Clinic, Fijai, St. Martin De Porres Hospital, Eikwe, Fr. Thomas Alan Rooney Memorial Hospital, Asankragua, St. John of God Clinic, Os3ekodwokurom, Angela Memorial Clinic, Yamatwa and St. John of God Hospital, Sefwi –Asafo, St. Michael’s Hospital – Jachie Pramso and Benito Menni Hospital , Dompoase. The remaining facilities were St. Thomas Clinic, Hia, Mother of God Health Center, Esaase Bontefufu, St. Martin Hospital, Agroyesum, St. Peter’s Hospital, Jacobu, St. Anthony Health Center, Sikaman and St. Louis Health Center, Bodwesango.