Shortage of nurses hits Central Region Hospital

The Medical Director of the Central Regional Government Hospital, Dr Daniel Asare, on Thursday said the Hospital would need more than 700 nurses to provide quality health care services to the public.

He said the Hospital, which is a referral Hospital, has less than 120 nurses.      Dr Asare, who spoke during the hospital’s annual performance review conference in Cape Coast, said despite the fact that the region produces several nurses from its nursing schools annually, majority of them are posted outside the region.

He said the Hospital, which is among  the first of series of ultra-modern Regional Hospitals established by the Ministry of Health and started full operations in August 1998, is under staffed and midwives, accountants, administrators, engineers and medical officers are urgently needed.

Dr Asare said the Hospital, which was adjudged the best Regional Hospital in  2003, would soon be upgraded into a Teaching Hospital and  stressed the need for it to be provided  with facilities and human  resources.

The Medical Director said although the Hospital had chalked successes it was saddled with challenges like encroachment on its lands, inadequate water supply for both staff and patients, frequent power outages and accommodation for new staff and appealed to the government and other philanthropists to assist.

Comparing the performance of the hospital in 2012 and the previous year, Dr. Asare said though there had been a major improvement in the quality of services delivered, the quantum of change was not what was expected.

“We envision that the  Cape Coast Teaching Hospital which hosts the University of Cape Coast Medical School to be  renowned locally, nationally and internationally as a centre of excellence for patients’ focused care and the training of high calibre of doctors by 2020,”  he  said.

Source: GNA