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Opinions of Sunday, 26 April 2009

Columnist: Bolus, Mercy Adede

Do hospitals in Ghana give an annual report to its stakeholders?

One would expect a hospitals and clinics to have an annual report to keep stakeholders well informed.

The general public would be interested to know what message the chief executive have to share with them

What the achievement of the year and the priorities se for a coming year?

What innovations have been introduced and is it working well.

Why are we improving health with and keeping up with strategies of the World Health Organisation?

What emergency planning is there in response to emergencies of any kind?

What is a hospital performance rating as compared to a neighbouring region?

Do patients have a voice in the decision making process?

Do we have patient advise service and public involvement in our hospitals

How does hospital staff feel in term of career development and progression?

Is the financial summary disclosed in the annual report?

Do the general public know the names of those on the board of executives?

Does each hospital provide useful contacts for it patients in general or assume that they know it?

I expect that this year our new leader with new direction for options in taking our health service forward indeed . The general public need to know what is happening in our hospitals annually via the annual report and must be circulated to all stakeholders.

Currently I expect many of our hospitals stakeholders are navigating in the dark when they come to our hospitals performances. .

If all the above are not happening then one would argue that who is calling the shots to identify needs for each hospital? Is it only the doctors or nurses only? Surely, patients must have a voice in our hospitals and should be to listen to in order for them to participate in improvement measures if any for the hospitals.

Accountability and transparency of public services is all the ordinary people ask for in Ghana. I would recommend that we have a quarterly meeting with Patients advise services which every hospital must have whether main hospitals, ,polyclinic and private clinics.