SPMDP Head Advocates Strong Health System
Dr. Emmanuel Harry Tawiah, President of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners (SPMDP) has urged the government to build a strong health system to avoid assessment of health abroad by government officials.
Dr. Tawiah who was delivering a solidarity message on behalf of the Society at the 2021 Annual Performance Review workshop of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi on Tuesday said the government should be blamed for weak systems in the health sector.
The theme for the day’s workshop was : “Building a resilient and affordable health care system: the role of teaching hospitals and the health care practitioner:
Dr. Tawiah wondered if government officials would travel abroad using taxpayers’ money to access health services if the local system was up to date.
He has therefore appealed to the government to strengthen the weak health system to save and protect the public purse.
Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, Chief Executive officer of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital recommended pool procurement of materials for effective bargaining power towards affordable health care.
He also called for an improved scope in the area of partnership in building a resilient and affordable health care system.
Dr. Emmanuel Ankrah Odame, Director of the Policy, Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) Unit of the Ministry of Health in his keynote address reminded health professionals of the need to adapt to the revolution of digitisation and telemedicine in health delivery.
He said the Universal Health Coverage is about timely assessment of health services and that health is a human right issue as well as a constitutional mandate and therefore must be affordable irrespective of the level of poverty of the individual.
The chairman of the KATH Board of Directors, Ambassador Nana Effah Appenteng urged the workshop to do a frank assessment of their performance to rectify situations where performance fell below standards.
He hoped the hospital would improve its performance and offer better services to its clients.