MANY health professionals refuse posting to the Northern Region due to the media’s over elaboration and sensationalism of divergent issues in the North, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) has observed.
According to him, many health professionals get alarmed by reports of violence in the north and this discourages them from accepting to serve in the north due to the fear of being victims of violence.
“I have spoken to many professionals outside the region and each time they refuse to come to Tamale, the reason they give is that they have heard in the news that the people are fighting and yet this is not true,” he stated.
Dr Sagoe made these remarks when he addressed media personnel based in Tamale at a media interaction dinner organised by the hospital.
He said the media must avoid exaggerating reports about violent conflicts and tone down on the language used to communicate such issues.
“We need to understand that the more negative our reports are, the more the conflicts are exacerbated and we remain underdeveloped. But if the reports paint a harmonious picture, it helps ease tensions and minimises fear,” he noted.
The CEO revealed that efforts were underway to transform the hospital into a centre of excellence in terms of healthcare delivery, research and medical training.
He said aside from the renovation of the hospital, being undertaken by the government, there were measures to enhance quality of service through the acquisition of the requisite medical equipment.
“Another area we are seeking to improve is the attitude of our staff towards clients. We have had complaints about the poor attitudes of some of our staff and so we would institute more training programmes to polish them up,” he noted.
“What we have realised is that a single episode of dissatisfaction on the part of the client with regards to our services is communicated to others faster that the many times that the clients are satisfied, so we would do everything to avoid these pitfalls, he further assured.
Dr Sagoe identified stress as partly responsible for the unprofessional conduct of some of the staff, explaining that “if a single midwife has to attend to many deliveries, then you can expect that she would become weary and less responsive to clients’ needs.
“We have therefore embarked on a recruitment drive to boost our staff strength. We are hoping to increase the number of nurses to about 650 by the end of this year,” he revealed.
The CEO noted that the number of midwives would soon increase considerably when the first batch of trainees at the midwifery school graduate.
“We would do our best to retain a large number of them else it would be a fruitless venture to train them and allow them to leave to other facilities outside the region,” he mentioned.
The media personnel urged the hospital management to be committed to their pledge of improving upon service delivery otherwise, the media would continue to highlight these issues so far as they remain a concern to the public.
“As for us, we are the voice of the people and so we would try to balance this responsibility with that of helping the teaching hospital to grow through positive image building,” Mr Francis Npong, a correspondent of The Enquirer stated.
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