The management of Effia-Nkwanta Government Hospital has advised patients of the facility to report and exhaust laid down procedures established to handle complaints over breaches they may have encountered or endured from staff at the facility.
According to the hospital, it was hurting that patients would decide to abandon the complaint procedures established to handle cases of negligence and customer breaches.
Engaging the media at the hospital on Wednesday, the Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Kojo Tambil, said though the facility was not barring any patients from running to the media, it was just advisable that they resorted to the procedures established by the hospital.
This was because, the hospital had actively pursued every breach of the customer care policies for correction and action reported.
Leading management in the media engagement, the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital Medical Director explained that it was not for anything that the Ghana Health Service (GHS) set up a code of ethics for staff of hospitals to follow religiously.
As a result, “You cannot get up and punish any staff without following the steps outlined in the code of ethics.”
Dr. Kojo Tambil further explained that it was not like the hospital turned a blind eye when a staff was reported to have misbehaved, but there must first be a complaint before action could be taken against the said staff.
He said management had on so many occasions punished staff over minor complaints lodged against them, which had culminated in transfers and interdictions.
He said management of the facility agreed amongst themselves to behave as professionals, so they expected every staff to follow suit.
In checking cases of misconduct, the Medical Director told journalist the hospital had fixed Close Circuit Televisions (CCTV) at most of the department, especially the Out Patient Department (OPD), where it monitored the conduct of staff.
Present at the media encounter included Michael Danso, Head of Administration, Justina Amo-Yartey, Head of Nursing, Francis Afari, Head of Pharmacy, and Simon Osei Tawiah, Internal Auditor.
Taking journalist through the complaint procedures as established by the GHS, Mr. Michael Danso, Head of Administration, said the complaint procedure was hierarchical. A patient who felt aggrieved over a staff conduct or negligence must first report to the head of the unit, where the latter would, in turn, report to the head of department.
He said taking to the media without first filing a complaint at the head of the unit was worrisome and could cause irreparable damage to the hospital.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO), Christian Baidoo, advised journalist to strive to protect the hospital from injurious publication, considering that was the only referral hospital in the region. Not gagging any journalist from writing negative stories about the hospital, the Hospital PRO asked journalist to seek the side of the hospital before running to press with the story.
