<<Print>>

Dr Sefah Bediakoh, Member of the Ghana Health Services (GHS) Governing Council, has said the Council is set to distribute about 70,000 copies of its code of conduct and disciplinary procedures to Regional and District Health Directorates.

He said management of health facilities across the country are encouraged to take all staff of the service through the document to ensure that they conduct themselves with all the ethics required of their work.

Dr Bediakoh said “our work as health workers borders on life and death and we must all make conscious efforts to save lives. No price is too high for this”.

He said this in Bolgatanga when he addressed the opening ceremony of the 2018 performance review meeting of the Upper East Regional Health Directorate on behalf of the GHS Council.

The meeting was held under the theme: “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals for Maternal and Child Health – the Role of Technology.”

The programme, which was chaired by the Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, Bonaba Baba Salifu Atamale Aleemyarum, brought together officials from the Eastern Regional Directorate of the GHS, Municipal and District Directors of the Service, Medical Superintendents, Health Services Administrators, development partners, stakeholders and the media.

“While we recognize and express our great appreciation to your contribution to service delivery in the health sector, it is important for us to be sensitive to some of the negative comments that are said about us in the health sector,” he said.

Dr Bediakoh urged all health staff to be mindful of the peculiarity of their work and live up to the standard disciplinary requirements of the Service.

He said the Council calls for collaboration between the GHS, political and traditional leadership, non-state health service actors such as the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) to engender good performance.

Dr Bediakoh said the Council, which was inaugurated in September 2017 as the 5th since the inception of the GHS in 1996, has carried out number of activities.

He said the Council has reviewed and approved about 113 appointments into management positions such as Deputy Directors, Programme Managers, District Directors, Medical Directors and Superintendents, 27 appointments into Senior Specialist and Consultant grades, and 240 promotions into exit grades such as Deputy Chief and Chief grades.

Dr Bediakoh said the Council has secured the necessary approval to upgrade the Health Promotion Department currently under the Family Health Division to a Divisional status which would be out-doored in the first week of April.

This, he said, would strengthen health promotion capacities as a strategy to address the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension in the country.

Dr Bediakoh said the Council has embarked on the development and growth of Medical Tourism in Ghana.

“The Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge is intended to be used as a pilot to support the development and growth of Medical Tourism in line with the Government’s Agenda of making Ghana the destination for Health Tourism in the ECOWAS sub-region.”