Dambai: Dr Sonlaar Joseph, the Medical Superintendent of the Evangelical Church of Ghana (ECG) Hospital at Dambai, has appealed to the Oti Regional Directorate of Health Services (RDHS) to second some health professionals from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to the facility to augment its workforce. He said the hospital currently relies heavily on internally generated funds (IGF) to engage qualified health professionals to man critical departments and units.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Sonlaar made the appeal during the official inauguration of the hospital, located at the Israel community in Dambai. He mentioned that apart from a few staff seconded from the Evangelical Church of Ghana, Kpandai, who were serving as government employees, more than 50 per cent of the hospital's workforce is currently being paid through IGF. These IGF-funded personnel are providing essential services in various departments, including the dispensary, accounts, laboratory, and wards.
Dr Sonlaar highlighted that most of the professionals engaged under the IGF arrangement are qualified health workers awaiting government clearance and posting. This scenario places a significant financial burden on the hospital, as management has to mobilise additional resources to maintain adequate staffing and provide quality healthcare services to the community.
He appealed to the RDHS, through the Municipal Directorate of Health Services (MDHS), to consider seconding some GHS staff to strengthen the hospital's human resource capacity. Additionally, he urged the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) to create special placement opportunities for some of the IGF-funded staff to enable them to be absorbed under a more sustainable arrangement. Such measures would reduce the hospital's wage burden and allow management to allocate more of its limited resources to other pressing needs, such as infrastructure and medical equipment.
Dr Sonlaar emphasized that strengthening the hospital's staffing capacity is critical to sustaining efficient service delivery and ensuring that residents of Dambai and surrounding communities have access to quality healthcare without travelling long distances for basic and specialised services. He expressed confidence that stronger collaboration among the GHS, CHAG, and ECG would help address the staffing challenges and enable the hospital to fulfil its healthcare mandate.
Dr Kofi Amo-Kodieh, the Oti Regional Director of Health Services, acknowledged the privilege of having the ECG establish a hospital in the region to complement government efforts in healthcare delivery. He commended the ECG for investing in healthcare infrastructure and expressed the Directorate's readiness to collaborate with the hospital to improve healthcare delivery in the region. Dr Amo-Kodieh encouraged the hospital's management to maintain accurate data and collaborate closely with the Municipal Health Directorate to facilitate comprehensive reporting and coordination.
Furthermore, Dr Amo-Kodieh urged the hospital to participate in the government's Free Primary Healthcare programme in the region to broaden access to essential healthcare services. He noted that the hospital's participation would complement government efforts and contribute to improving access to quality and affordable primary healthcare for residents of Dambai and surrounding communities.