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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Role of allied health professionals in effective service delivery

Under no circumstance should the role of any professional in the health service delivery value chain be discounted, says Professor E. Tsiri Agbenyaga, Provost of the College of Health Sciences at the KNUST.

He says every service provider in the sector – especially those not in the frontlines like doctors, nurses and pharmacists – has a significant role to play, hence must be accorded due recognition.

He spoke on the theme “Delivering Safe and Effective Practice and Healthcare: The Role of the Allied Health Professionals” at the induction ceremony for allied health interns in Kumasi.

Allied health professionals – including optical technicians, laboratory technicians and assistants and physiotherapy assistants – constitute about 60 percent of the total health workforce in Ghana.

They provide diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitative and supportive care across the range of health services.

Prof. Agbenyaga observed that the contributions of some health professionals may not be acknowledged, the most important thing is to meet the expectation of patients.

He particularly referred to the importance of the medical laboratory specialists in disease diagnosis for preventive purposes.

Acting Registrar of the Allied Health Professions Council, Dr. Clement Opoku-Okrah, enjoined the interns to search for improved and better ways of managing health for the betterment of clients and the population.

He also appealed to government ease the long period it takes to employed graduates after their internship programme.

Ashanti regional minister, Dr. Samuel Sarpong observed the need to build capacity of health professionals “in providing essential preventive and treatment services”.

“Government recognizes the important of allied health services and has dedicated a portion of its research and programming interest to understanding and addressing the needs of those professionals in the nation,” he stated.


Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

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