Stop politicising and launch the national health laboratory policy now!!!

Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Scientists are not recognized at higher learning levels beyond a Bachelor's degree:

There is no provision in GHS for acknowledgment of higher learning beyond a Bachelor's degree, but other medical professions do. It is not recognized if you specialize in Mphil or PhD. This is an intentional attempt to limit our profession's production so that some people can control us and the wealth we earn.

Our practice is self-sufficient, with no input or direction from any medical profession. We need to be respected, driven to work, and there should be a restructuring that allows higher learning to be recognized by higher authorities that make decisions.

Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Scientist laboratory sections are under-resourced:

The lab is under-resourced to run all of the specialized tests that commercial labs run, despite the fact that we have qualified employees, just like South Africans and developed countries. This has an impact on the predicted income for the public health sector. Ghana is losing money on health facilities, particularly medical laboratory services; our profession can help.

These are just a handful of the unpleasant injustices that my colleagues and I believe we face daily. The lab is not adequately resourced to run all of the specialized tests that commercial labs run, despite the fact that we have qualified employees much like South Africans and industrialized countries. This has an impact on the predicted income for the public health sector. Ghana is losing money on health facilities, particularly medical laboratory services; our profession can help.

These are just a handful of the unpleasant injustices that my colleagues and I believe we face daily. We are deserving of what we ask for. Medical Laboratory Science practice should be considered a crucial setting within the framework of any health facility, and because it generates 60-70% of the revenue in the health sector, it should be adequately resourced.

We've wondered over the years why laboratory services that can be supplied to Patient A at hospital A couldn't be provided to Patient A at hospital B owing to a lack of resources.

Sometimes I feel like I'm losing all of the abilities I learned as a student or as a trainer. The most vexing element is that when the healthcare laboratory services do not suit your needs, it becomes extremely difficult for you to give critical services to clients.

If this condition persists for an extended period, you may lose all of the abilities and knowledge you have acquired. Some of these colleagues find themselves in these problematic situations in the GHANA HEALTH SERVICE's Polyclinics and Health facilities, and they grumble bitterly since they are scientists who want to advance their skill set and career All of this comes from satisfying the needs of medical laboratory scientists to assist them to improve their abilities and careers as we resource our medical laboratory departments.

A Medical Laboratory Scientist is confronted with Health Sector Politics:

Over the years, our health sectors have seen nothing new except health-sector politics among cadres of professions, which has now taken over teamwork and is dictating who should hold a position that only a cadre of professionals is entitled to. This gloom is killing the enthusiasm and the collective team effort that has been used to solve the patients' concerns.

The superiority complex that has concentrated all power in one group has jeopardized the harmonious and serene harmony inside our healthcare systems. All of the disasters in our healthcare system are the result of prioritizing one cadre of workers above another. We have awoken from our slumber and will not be intimidated by political defamation.

Medical Laboratory Scientist has no condition of services:

Medical Laboratory Scientist has no condition of services. This is one of the few things we have been denied for many years, while others have been enjoying the national cake for over a decade. We have been cheated unfairly for many years with no compensation.

Our medical laboratory scientist brotherhood has awakened, and we are advocating for a condition of service for risk allowance, overtime allowances, emergency services allowances, and many other benefits that I cannot even begin to list. We are not desperate, but we know we deserve what we have to offer.

Medical Laboratory Have no policy document regulating standards:

In order to provide a clear career path for medical laboratory scientists, our National Health Laboratory Policy, which is a laboratory instrument, must also be launched. I often say that authorities make sensible decisions that affect the majority rather than the minority. The purpose of this submission is to demonstrate that no matter how large a river is, it can never defeat the sea.

There have been so many questions raised about the implementation of a national health laboratory policy that I wonder why other cadres of health professionals aren't complaining, but only one cadre has been outspokenly opposed to making changes to a policy that their sole leaders even made inputs on before it was drafted.

We must be very serious as a nation and as a country in order to prioritize human existence and not for the sake of group greed. Issues with this policy's execution continue to emerge, and there has been no better way to resolve or apply them.

I can tell you with authority that we cannot continue to play politics with human lives since our own families may become ill and require the greatest medical care, as well as the highest/quality medical laboratory diagnostic services that may enable clinicians to deliver the best therapy.

We urge the government and other stakeholders, particularly the committees tasked with resolving this matter, to expedite their efforts so that all parties understand where they belong and the required steps can be taken. Ghana is not getting younger, and Ghanaians cannot continue to be victims.

Now is the time to implement the national health laboratory policy!!!

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#fixTheSystemNow#