The 24th Annual General and Scientific Conference of the Medical Superintendents Group is currently ongoing in Ho under the theme, “Leadership and Innovation in Free Primary Healthcare Towards Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Ghana: The Role of Medical Superintendents.”
The conference brings together medical superintendents and other health-sector stakeholders to deliberate on leadership, innovation, and strategies to strengthen the delivery of primary healthcare across the country.
Dr. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), in his address, underscored the importance of effective leadership among Medical Superintendents.
He urged medical superintendents to provide leadership that would make members of their communities confident in seeking healthcare at their facilities.
He noted that 3,774 Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) facilities, 632 health centres and 41 polyclinics are currently providing free primary healthcare services across 135 districts, highlighting the important role health facilities and their managers play in achieving universal health coverage.
The Director-General further urged medical superintendents to ensure that administrative and financial processes at their facilities were properly managed to avoid audit queries.
He cautioned them to conduct their duties diligently, noting that poor management of facility resources could result in audit issues that could ultimately require him to appear before the Public Accounts Committee.
Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea also urged medical superintendents to pay greater attention to the submission of claims to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He said timely and accurate claims submissions were necessary to minimise claim rejections and ensure that health facilities received the resources required to sustain service delivery.
He also indicated that appointments and renewals to leadership positions within the health service should not be considered automatic, but should increasingly be influenced by performance.
He therefore encouraged medical superintendents to remain professional, dedicated and hardworking in the discharge of their responsibilities.
The Director-General also announced plans to revitalise the Ghana Health Service Institute as part of efforts to strengthen leadership development within the service.
According to him, the institute would play an important role in training future leaders of the Ghana Health Service and equipping them with knowledge of the organisation’s core values and leadership expectations.
He also disclosed plans to provide affordable accommodation for health workers at health facilities across the country, an initiative aimed at improving staff welfare and supporting healthcare delivery.
In a final charge to the medical superintendents, he urged them to make meaningful contributions to the facilities they lead and leave lasting legacies.
“Do your best, do something for your facility, leave a name there, leave a legacy there,”he urged.
The Service this year launched the GHS journal and therefore used the occasion to urge a medical staff to actively participate and research and publication towards their promotion.
The conference is expected to provide a platform for medical superintendents to exchange ideas and develop innovative approaches to strengthening free primary healthcare and advancing Ghana’s quest for universal health coverage.
Other dignitaries who graced the opening ceremony with their presence included the Deputy Director General of the Service, Dr. Caroline Reindorf Amissah, the GMA President, Prof. Ernest Yorke, the volta regional minister, Hon. James Gunuh, the Regional Director of Health Service for Volta, Dr Atsu Dodor, as well as traditional leader