Show love to patients, health professionals told

The Methodist Church Ghana has organised its third annual Health Professionals Conference in Accra with a call on health professionals to cultivate a sense of empathy to motivate them to deliver quality services.

The Vice-President of the Trinity Theological Seminary, Rev. Professor Johnson Asamoah-Gyadu, who made the call, noted that by demonstrating the Christian faith and love at their workplaces, health professionals would be proving to society that they were stewards of God, propagating His love to mankind as portrayed by the Apostles.
Corrupt health professionals

Delivering a keynote address on the theme: “Medical Missions -Demonstrating Christian Faith and Love in the society” at the Wesley Cathederal in Accra, Rev. Professor Asamoah-Gyadu said bad attitude and corruption, which had become endemic in the country, had also found their way into the health sector.

Participants

About 350 health professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, nurses and laboratory assistants, across Ghana attended the conference which was designed to direct their focus to provide quality health care to their patients.

Christian health professionals “A Christian health professional is first and foremost a steward. What this means is that Christian stewardship affects public witness. We come to Christ as individuals, but then after that we become part of the “people of God” and “a holy nation,” Rev. Prof. Asamoah Gyadu noted.

He charged them to lead lives that bore witness to who they were, explaining that “our actions are meant to serve the public good. This is important because oftentimes, we understand Christian witness only in terms of telling people about Christ and getting them to say the sinner’s prayer.

“Christian witness is more than that. It includes living out the faith in a way that bears testimony to the fact that we are called of God.”

Corruption in Ghana

Expressing concern about corruption in Ghana, he said it had reached epidemic proportions. “In the health sector, for example, corruption ranges from the neglect of duty to the charging of unauthorised medical fees and the plain pilfering and stealing of medical supplies.

“The homes of certain health professionals, including pharmacists, nurses and doctors, could easily pass for extensions of pharmacies because drugs and supplies meant to serve the public good easily find their way into homes for whatever selfish purposes they may serve,” he bemoaned.

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Recalling the incident where a 70- year-old man, Prince Anthony Opoku Acheampon, died in his car on June 2, this year after seven hospitals in Accra allegedly refused to offer him medical care, Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu said some of the health professionals who refused to treat the deceased had always been wearing the tag as Christians, but failed to live up to their core mandate to be stewards of God.

Challenge

“I challenge you rather to approach your calling as a Christian health professional in the spirit of Joseph who vowed to remain truthful to God in the midst of temptation and like the Good Samaritan who served a neighbour at great personal cost and sacrifice,” he stressed.

Administrator

The Administrator of the Methodist Church Ghana, Bishop Kofi Osbourne, charged Christian health professionals to be motivated by the good works of Jesus for them to serve their clients in a better way.

For his part, a former Director-General of the Ghana Health Services, Dr Appiah Denkyira, urged the participants to build good rapport with their patients as part of their core mandate.