Sandema (U/E) July 31, GNA-The Sandema Hospital in the Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region has held a staff durbar to afford staff of the facility the opportunity to interact with management and strategize to improve health care delivery.
The durbar brought together all categories of health professionals in the Hospital, and created the opportunity for them to discuss teething problems that affect service delivery in the facility, and also offered staff the opportunity to seek redress on issues of concern.
Addressing staff of the Hospital, the Acting Medical Superintendent, Dr Bertrand Agilinko commended them for their sacrifices in diverse ways to ensure effective health service delivery in spite of the challenges over the years.
He urged them to be mindful of how they spoke to patients and clients in the facility, saying “Let’s be careful and improve on our customer care, let’s relate to our clients better, as much as we can.”
Dr Agilinko expressed concern about the attitude of some staff of the Hospital who often posted certain false information about the facility on social media, especially on the official WhatsApp platform of the Hospital.
He said such misleading information about the facility could be forwarded to other social media platforms which could mislead members of the public, and create a bad impression about the Hospital.
According to the Acting Medical Superintendent, some members of the public were misinformed about activities of the Hospital, and urged members of the public including staff of the facility to make enquiries from the appropriate quarters to better appreciate what goes on in the facility.
He said plans were underway to create additional access points to dispense medicines to patients at the Pharmacy Unit to solve the issue of congestion and unnecessary delays at the Unit during peak hours of the day.
Dr Agilinko conceded that there were challenges in the facility, but said management was working to solve them, and improve health care delivery in the Hospital.
He disclosed that management was able to help regularise three casual staff of the Hospital who would soon be inputted into the government’s salary structure, and also assisted newly posted staff with accommodation.
On power outages in the Municipality which plunged the facility into darkness, owing to a faulty power plant, Dr Agilinko said management requested the support of the Municipal Assembly for a power plant to aid service delivery.
He said pending the support from the Assembly and other stakeholders, to permanently solve the issue of power outages in the Hospital, management had worked on the faulty power plant, “There were still challenges, but it is better than before.
“These days when the power goes off, we are able to put it on, sometimes with a bit of difficulty, but eventually it comes on,” he said.
Mr Prosper Asandem, the Health Service Administrator of the Hospital, said the staff strength of the Hospital was good, “per its level it is required to have a total of 76 Enrolled Nurses (ENs), and 115 Registered General Nurses (RGNs), but currently has 75 ENs and 87 RGNs.
Mr Asandem said though some staff had left, they had more than enough new staff to replace them and meet the requirement to deliver effective health care services, “So let us put up our best and work diligently as professionals.”
Mr Stephen Adombire, the Acting Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS) of the Hospital, acknowledged the logistical constraints of the facility and urged staff, especially nurses and midwives to continue to put up their best in spite of the challenges.
