Dr Alphonse Makafui Dzakpasu, acting Deputy Director of Clinical Care, Volta Region has emphasised that providing quality healthcare is not just about infrastructure, but about having a dedicated team and robust systems in place.
“Round-the-clock care is not achieved by buildings that stay open all night. It is achieved by a committed workforce – supported by strong systems – ready to deliver quality care to every patient, every hour, every day.”
He made this statement while giving a presentation on the theme for the 2025 annual performance review meeting of the Volta Regional Health Directorate in Ho, “Providing Round-the-Clock Quality-Focused Free Primary Health Care and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Control: The Role of the Health Workforce.”
Ghana’s health workforce is being reoriented to provide a 24-hour quality-focused Free Primary Healthcare (PHC) and control NCDs, making it imperative to shift from reactive, hospital-based care to proactive, preventive care.
Dr Dzakpasu believed essentially, health workers were central to achieving this goal, referring to them as drivers of all policies, the heartbeat of PHC, responsible for detection, treatment, prevention and education on health issues.
He observed the core challenge in the sector “is not access to care – it is access to care at the right time, the right quality, by the right people, supported and sustained to deliver continuously.”
Dr Dzakpasu asked health managers to be mindful of workforce gaps: burnout and fatigue, inadequate motivation systems, supervision gaps and uneven skill distribution, and to look out for themselves and the staff, welfare-wise to improve performance.
He reflected on five critical questions: Are healthcare services truly 24-hour systems or just daytime; are consistent quality care being delivered across facilities; are diseases prevented proactively or just complications being managed; do systems guide care decisions effectively; and is the health workforce empowered and supported to perform?
Dr Dzakpasu said if Ghana would realise its health agenda, it was important to standardise quality across all facilities and ensure continuous round-the-clock effective care delivery, make prevention and promotion routine, and prioritise workforce welfare and performance.
Prof Fred Newton Binka, Chairman, Ghana Health Service Council said primary healthcare services were expanding, with focus shifting to prevention and health promotion and also rehabilitative services but faced challenges in capacity building and staff recruitment.
He stressed the need for supportive supervision and welfare of health workers to improve service delivery saying, many people were becoming health conscious and a demotivated staff could pretend to be looking after patients who would then fight back, having some level of expectations what care should be given them.
Prof Margaret Kweku, member, Volta Regional Health Committee, recounted two experiences during her time of medical practice of how a lady recovered after overcoming initial hesitation to take medication; and a flexible care which allowed a mother to attend her husband’s funeral to highlight the importance of compassion and empathy in patient care.
She urged health workers to emulate these examples and collaborate with local authorities and non-governmental organisations saying, such partnerships were crucial for effective healthcare delivery.
The performance review which brought together health managers, stakeholders, development partners from the region and across the country to take stock of performance in healthcare delivery in the past year and to strategise on ways to improve health outcomes this year, also had Togbe Gabusu VII, Paramount Chief of Gbi, representing Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, President of Volta Regional House of Chiefs in attendance.
