Customer care crucial to health delivery - Dr Osei Duku
The Dean of School of Governance and Public Administration at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Dr Phillip Osei Duku, says the recent spate of confrontations between health workers and the community has made it imperative for a new regime of health administration that places emphasis on customer service.
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Describing the recent attack on the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital by the aggrieved family who lost their baby during delivery as unfortunate, Dr Duku said such occurrences could be minimised if doctors, nurses and patients increased their engagement with stakeholders, including patients and the community.
“This calls for a constant review of the principles of health administration and the upgrading of the management practices involved in the delivery of health services that put customer satisfaction at the core of the delivery,” he stated.
Closing a four-week course in Health Administration and Management for health practitioners at the GIMPA last Friday, Dr Duku urged health workers to administer patients and not only prescribe drugs, urging them not to withhold information from patients and their families.
The course, which attracted about 42 health personnel, including physicians, obstetricians, gynaecologists, urologists, pharmacists and nurses, as well as hospital administrators, was aimed at equipping them with skills for the effective delivery of health care in their respective health institutions.
It was also to improve on their managerial capabilities for the implementation of primary health care (PHC).
Topics discussed included organisation and management; general management principles; current health reforms and essential management skills, among others.
Dr Duku noted that healing itself went beyond the therapies prescribed by doctors, adding that how doctors and nurses showed empathy in their delivery was crucial.
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“It was for this reason that the course was organised for health practitioners because they need soft skills in problem solving situations,” he added.
Nana Oduro Kwarteng, a lecturer at the Graduate School of Governance and Public Administration at GIMPA, urged participants to inculcate care and compassion into their deliveries to the public to make a difference.
Mr Kwabena Amoah, deputy registrar of Graduate School of Governance, GIMPA, said the programme which had been running since 1972 had been expanded to attract health personnel from the private sector, mission hospitals and non-governmental organisations whose roles were crucial to the delivery of PHC in Ghana.
He announced that the next course would be held between July 7 and July 25, 2014 with the last one for the year scheduled between November 3 and 28, 2014.