Employment of casual workers to be regularised in health sector
All casual workers in the health sector will have their employment regularised from next year, the Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has said.
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According to him, he was aware that the Labour Law did not allow casual workers to be kept for more than six months, and as such, he had requested for the data of all such workers on the payroll to be worked on.
At the opening ceremony of the 50th anniversary of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) at Kasoa last Thursday, the minister said currently, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) was paying casual workers with its internally generated fund (IGF).
Although he did not disclose the number of casual workers in the health sector, Mr Agyeman-Manu said the numbers were huge, saying “when I saw the numbers, I was shivering.”
CHAG
CHAG is a network of Christian health service providers composed of 302 health facilities and training institutions from 26 denominations.
Its facilities are located in all the 10 regions of Ghana, and in about 188 districts and municipalities of Ghana, and its mission is mainly to promote Jesus Christ’s healing ministry.
Touching on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Mr Agyeman-Manu said the challenge of funding that confronted the sector delayed the payment of claims of the NHIS.
In spite of the challenge, he said, the government was working to raise funds to pay the NHIS claim arrears.
While commending the CHAG for its support to the health sector over the years, Mr Agyeman-Manu reaffirmed the government’s commitment to deepen its relationship with the association in order that it can continue to provide quality health care to the public.
Donor support drops
In his address, the Executive Director of CHAG, Mr Peter K. Yeboah stated that CHAG was committed to providing holistic health services to people irrespective of their socio-economic circumstances in Ghana.
“We fulfil this core mandate by providing holistic health care to all manner of people irrespective of socio-economic circumstances,” he said.
Concerning the challenges facing the CHAG, he identified the dwindling donor support as one of the main challenges confronting the association since its members depended mostly on foreign aid.
The situation, Mr Yeboah said, had affected funding capital expenditures and infrastructure, as well as training and development programmes.
“Ghana has now been designated as a lower middle-income country.The unintended effect is that Ghana is no longer an attractive destination for donor inflows. Hence, most of our long-term development partners have ceased their support to CHAG,” Mr Yeboah said.
Gov’t support dwindles
Additionally, the president of CHAG said, the association was also witnessing dramatic withdrawal of the government’s support for its healthcare delivery.
“Subsidies for CHAG have been withdrawn. Hospitals and health centres, which are categorised as commercial entities by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), are now paying exorbitant bills at commercial rates, using their meagre internally generated fund, and sometimes with threats of disconnection due to non-payment.
“Much to our dismay, tax waivers on donated medicines, equipment and other medical items have been withdrawn,” Mr Yeboah stated.
To aggravate the situation, he added that CHAG facilities and service providers had to grapple with the National Health Insurance Authority’s indebtedness and chronic delays in reimbursing service providers.
He, therefore, called on the government to assist the CHAG by removing taxes and providing the needed support for them to execute their mission.
One district-one CHAG hospital
Nonetheless, he said, the CHAG was working to establish a hospital in each district; hence the programme one- district, one- CHAG hospital.
For her part, the Board Chairman on the CHAG Board of Trustees, Dr Agatha A. Bonney, said over the years, the CHAG had showcased its contribution through the provision of quality healthcare delivery, as well as the training of middle-level health professionals over the past 50 years in Ghana.
Going forward, she said, the CHAG would deploy modern information, communication technological methods and innovation to offer quality, accurate and timely interventions to its clients.