Private hospitals excluded from PPE distribution - CHAG

Most Reverend Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, Episcopal Chairman for Health of the Catholic Church has said that some private hospitals have been denied access to the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) recently distributed by government.

He said health officials in the Western Region excluded a faith-based hospital under the Catholic Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), located close to a border in the region from the distribution of the PPE because it was not a government facility.

He said such a practice was unfair and an affront to effective healthcare delivery in the country.

Most Rev. Afrifah Agyekum, who is also Bishop of the Koforidua Diocese, said this at the opening of the 12th Annual Conference of the National Catholic Health Service (NCHS) in Tamale, on Tuesday.

The three-day conference, which is on the theme: “Eliminating Harm and Error in Patient Care – Keys to Good Stewardship”, would discuss issues of medical and surgical errors, harm in case management, amongst others, to ensure effective health care delivery.

He said CHAG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to collaborate to ensure effective health care delivery and therefore, could not understand why hospitals under CHAG would be excluded from the distribution of the PPE meant to protect health care workers against the Ebola virus.

He said CHAG was not happy with the situation and would appropriately lodge a formal complaint to the MoH.

He called on health workers to be extra careful when undertaking their duties to avoid errors that could cause permanent injuries or death to patients.

Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, who represented the Regional Minister, implored negative attitudes of some health workers, saying such behaviours rather worsened the conditions of patients.

The Minister commended the Catholic Church for its invaluable services especially in the health sector, assuring that government would continue to support CHAG to ensure improved healthcare delivery in the country.

Dr James Sarkodie, Deputy Director in-charge of Clinical Care of the Northern Regional Health Directorate, urged health workers to be professional to avoid injuries to patients.