By: Akosua Frema Frempong
The Allied Health Professions Council has conducted a monitoring and compliance tour across private health facilities in the Ashanti Region. The exercises is part of the Council’s mandate to enforce regulatory compliance, ensure high standards of care, and protect the public from unlicensed practitioners and substandard facilities. Our Ashanti Regional Correspondent,
The Allied Health Professions Council operates under the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, Act 857, to ensure that allied health services provided to the general public strictly adhere to laid-down laws, safety standards, and ethical practices.
The Council actively protects the public through several regulatory measures. They include practitioner licensing and registration, enforcement and inspection exercises to eliminate unqualified or “fake” practitioners from the health delivery system and ensuring that the general public receives accurate, high-quality, and reliable medical services.
A part of its mandate the Council conducted routine and unannounced site visits in the Ashanti Region to ensure that clinics, labs, and allied health institutions operate with valid permits and meet standardized conditions.
A Monitoring and Inspection team of the Council, led by the Registrar, Professor Issahaku Shraizu began the unannounced visits in Kumasi, where it undertook inspections at Medlab Diagnostic Services, Global Medical and Imaging Centres, Alma Medical Laboratory, Grace Fountain Health Services, and Dimer Health Services all located at Bantama.
The team verified allied health workers in good standing, their scope of operations, displayed procedures and protocol, membership of the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency as well as facility requirements.
In an interview, the Registrar of the Allied Health Professional Council, Professor Issahaku Shraizu expressed satisfaction with the evaluation exercise as facility managers were not cited for breaching the Health Professions Bodies Act.
He gave assurance that the Council would continue to ensure that allied health institutions operate with valid permits and meet standardized conditions.
“So over the years, what we noticed is that most of the services that are provided by our professionals need to be properly regulated. Section 3 of Act 857 gives the Council the mandate to ensure that we regulate the services rendered by these professionals. This year, the Board approved that the Council should visit all facilities across Ghana. We started with Accra about two months ago and this week we are in Kumasi, Ashanti region and its environs. We are visiting all facilities that provide Allied Services which include laboratory services, imaging, optometry, dietitian, nutrition, medical Physics and several other services provided across the region. The aim is to ensure that those services are delivered according to laid-down regulations. Key lapses that were observed include non-existence or incomplete protocol procedures that should be published and displayed. We also noticed that few a facilitiesenev though registered with the Council, have challenges with their registration and have not been able to follow up for ratification. For now, we will not take any drastic actions against them. We have warned those few and we will ensure to follow up with them. If they still have not resolved the issues, we have no other option but to take the next step to protect the public,” Prof. Issahaku Shraizu disclosed.
Some of the allied health workers at the private laboratory and diagnostic centres visited, complained about the delay in the issuance of their academic and professional certificates.
Prof. Issahaku Shraizu, in response disclosed that academic and professional certificates for qualified allied health professionals are currently ready for collection.
“So over the years when I noticed that the certification had delayed people complete school and their certificate are still not ready.But we have taken the needed steps to resolve that. So what we have done is that we’ve bought lot of certificates, over 30,000 of them, are already available.We have issued over 25 thousand currently available in our offices. The challenge is that some of them they have issues with their registration instead of them to resolve it. They think that we should just issue in the certificate to practise we can do that if for instance your academic certificate is not ready, we can’t print your professional certificate until we are convinced. If you have challenge with your registration because your picture something wasn’t done right we needed to check your background and if the information is not available to us, we can’t give you the certificate until that is done. So most of these challenges are because the professionals themselves have some few questions to answer and they have not done that and that is why some of them will have those challenges. Otherwise, any other person who is qualified and all documentations are set, such certificates are available now and they can come to our offices to pick it up. In the past they were expecting that to get to them.We think that in this, this we we have to allow them to pick it up if you want it to be sent to you, you are free to do so. Just come to office, tell us that we want it to be sent to me in Bolga or Wa we will give you a form to fill in that you will quantify how much it will cost us to bring it to you and then.Give you a bill to pay when you pay that bill, then we deliver it to you at your doorstep.So this is to inform all service providers within Ashanti and the Bono regions. This week we are here.We are going to interact with you all and we expect that you will be needed free will to implement our mandates. We don’t expect any resistance. We also don’t expect you to frustrate the team because that will be against the law. And if you are caught doing that, unfortunately, the law may take its course in case you have some challenges which is convincing enough for us to identify those challenges, will assist you to resolve it if it challenges that cannot be resolved and for the interest of the public we may have no other option but to close it down until those issues are resolved. So it’s going to be a friendly visit, but well determined to protect the public as we move forward into the coming days”, Prof. Issahaku Shraizu emphasized.
Allied health facility managers were strongly advised to fully cooperate with the Allied Health Professions Council monitoring teams and not in any way attempt to frustrate these inspection operations.
