Ghanaians not happy with healthcare delivery

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition’s (GACC) latest survey on Patient Perception Index (PPI) report has revealed that Ghanaians were dissatisfaction with the healthcare delivered in hospitals by health providers.

The survey conducted in collaboration with HAB Foundation Ghana in 40 districts among government and private health centers across the country, was aimed at knowing patients perception and assessment of the quality of health services delivered by doctors and nurses.

The theme “Empowering Communities to Demand Better Health Service Delivery in Ghana” is to empower citizens to hold service providers and health policy makers accountable as far as health care in the country was concern.

Mr Emmanuel Adusei, HAB Foundation Ghana Representative, said quality healthcare is a right, not a privilege, adding it is the mandate of government and stakeholders to ensure that this is carried out to the letter.

Mr Adusei noted that the survey sort for policy reforms in the constitution should be made available to address concerns of patients for transparency and accountability.

Mr Roger Atinga, Project Consultant, however stressed that the findings of the survey revealed that patients’ way of measuring quality health delivery was through attitude of providers, privacy and interaction, quality of pharmacy service, treating patients with dignity and respect, places of convenience, quality of physical examination and the availability of drugs at health centers.

Mr Atinga, therefore, called on health center administrations to make patients the center of attraction by providing all these necessary requirements at the health places. He also added that this would make patients visit the health facility more often.

He said healthcare providers, especially nurses, must be encouraged to be courteous, respectful, responsive and tolerant to patients in the process of seeking health delivery to correct the negative attitude of health professionals.

Furthermore, he said, Ghanaians were calling for continuous awareness of the patients’ charter across all levels and in specific languages to inform people of their rights and responsibilities as patients.

Mr Atinga urged that effective communication be used as a tool in health care delivery to ensure each other’s rights were not trembled on as well as facilitating a platform for transparent interactions with members of the community on issues of rights and responsibilities of patients.

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) is a cross-sectional grouping of public, private and civil society organizations with the sole aim of building a national effort to confront the problem of corruption and devise effective control measure.