MoH to establish agency for health training institutions

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is working to establish a national agency for health training Institutions to oversee the administration of health training institutions in the country.

This, according to the ministry, will help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care in the country.

The establishment of the national agency for health institutions will further fulfil the vision of the ministry of Health to ensure high-quality health professionals for the country.

To this end, a national stakeholders’ forum, in relation to the drafting of a proposed bill, is to be organised on Wednesday, October 16, 2013, in Accra for all stakeholders under the Ministry of Health, as well as persons who will be responsible for the implementation of the laws when passed.

The bill is expected to be passed by the end of 2014.

The need for a national agency

The Ministry of Health, currently, has 75 training institutions located in all the 10 regions of the country, where they offer basic programmes in Nursing, Midwifery, Health Assistance, Community Health Nursing, Optics, Physiotherapy, Environmental Health and Dental technology.

The ministry also has post basic schools offering specialised programmes in Public Health, Ear, Nose and Throat, Anaesthesia, Ophthalmic, Peri-Operative and Critical Care, Medical Assistance and Midwifery.

These health training institutions have been operating for more than forty years without any law.

The Human Resource Directorate, under which these training institutions operate, is made up of three units, namely; Planning and Information, Management and Training.

The directorate occupies three offices and has a director, two deputies, three administrative officers, a data manager and two secretaries.

Due to the enormity of the task of managing the schools, the entire directorate is overwhelmed with the schools’ activities, thereby creating lapses in other activities such as performance management of the entire sector, including human resource planning, recruitment, human resource information, human resource monitoring, awards system and the engagement of health professional groups and Ghanaians in the Diaspora, among others.

Responsibilities

These responsibilities seem obviously overwhelming and many of the activities do not receive the necessary attention they deserve because of the limitation of space and staff.

The establishment of Advisory Boards for each health training institution has greatly improved governance, thereby reducing complaints drastically.

However, these boards are not in a position to tackle the major policy issues confronting the schools.

A typical example is that at the Inter-Agency Leadership Committee level, which is made up of heads of agencies, health training institutions are not represented, hence issues concerning them are not discussed during the discussions on reports from agencies.

While the individual health training institutions are agencies reporting to the Minister of Health, the 65 health training institutions are classified as Budget Management Centres, all currently reporting to the Human Resource (HR) Directorate of the MoH.

The HR Directorate in this regard acts as an agency and conducts its usual business like any other directorate of the Ministry of Health in terms of policy formulation, resource mobilisation and monitoring and evaluation, with only 10 members of staff.

The Rural Health Training School at Kintampo alone runs 11 programmes including programmes for Field Technicians; Disease Control; Health Information and Laboratory; Community Oral Health; Medical Assistants and, recently, Mental Health Medical Assistants. The above programmes are either at the certificate or diploma level.

The number of nursing institutions has increased steadily over the years from twenty-five in 2005 to the current number of ninety-five.

These include private nursing institutions. The total number of students currently stands at twenty-three thousand with an annual intake of over twelve thousand.

Unlike the Ministry of Education that groups its institutions under various agencies such as the National Council for Tertiary Education, Primary and Second Cycle Education and Schools Inspectorate Board, and has various offices aside the Ghana Education Service which operates at the national, regional and district levels, the Ministry of Health schools are managed by a Training Unit under the Human Resource Department at the Ministry of Health.

It is in the light of all these that the MoH wants come out with a law to establish the National Agency for Health Training Institutions under which all these health institutions will operate.

By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho/Daily Graphic/Ghana
Writer's Email: [email protected]