Bolgatanga: Dr. Lawrence Ofori-Boadu, Director of the Institutional Care Division (ICD) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has urged healthcare managers in the Upper East Region to prioritize clinical competency and emergency preparedness. He emphasized that building clinical capacity is not only a professional duty but also a personal safeguard for healthcare staff. 'If we build clinical capacity, it is for our own good. Let's make the facilities we superintend a safe place for ourselves, regardless of whether it is a Health Centre or not, and we at Headquarters will also do our part to support,' he said.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr. Ofori-Boadu, an Emergency Physician, highlighted a rising trend of medico-legal issues within the Service, attributing them to lapses in care quality. He urged managers to focus on precision and error reduction. 'Let's do the little we can do and do it well so that we minimize errors,' he told GHS managers during the 2025 Annual Performance Review meeting in Bolgatanga.
He expressed concern over brain drain within facility management, noting that highly skilled clinical staff were often reassigned to administrative roles outside their expertise. For example, experienced midwives promoted to Principal Midwifery Officer (PMO) rank were sometimes moved to head Out-Patient Departments (OPD) instead of maternity units. Similarly, senior emergency nurses were frequently shifted to Nurse Manager positions, leaving inexperienced and non-specialist nurses to manage emergency units.
Dr. Ofori-Boadu stressed that the Regional Hospital must maintain constant readiness to manage critically ill patients effectively.
The review meeting also addressed a concerning rise in maternal deaths, which increased from 40 in 2024 to 60 in 2025. Ms. Rashida Eliasu, Senior Midwifery Officer (SMO) at the Regional Hospital, advocated for strict and consistent use of the partograph, a graphical tool that monitors labour progress and the well-being of both mother and fetus. The partograph acts as an early warning system, allowing clinicians to intervene before complications such as obstructed labour occur.
Ms. Eliasu called on both frontline staff and administrators to take responsibility: 'I encourage all midwives to use the partograph. Those responsible for procurement must ensure these tools are always available at our facilities.'