The Ghanaian Journal

Audrey Micah

The negative attitude of some health workers in recent times has angered a lot of Ghanaians. This negative behaviour gives an erroneous impression that almost all health workers are either disrespectful or unresponsive to their patients.

It’s been 3 years since the Ghana Health Service (GHS) launched the patient’s charter and the code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures to improve the quality of health care especially in the public health facilities. This charter tasked health workers to respect the rights and responsibilities of patients.

When theghanaianjournal.com visited some hospitals in the capital, some patients expressed their disappointment as to how some health workers ill-treat them when they visit the hospitals.

According to Mrs. Grace Larbi, a patient at the Tema General Hospital, the attitude problem of some health workers affects the healing process of patients. “I sometimes think these workers have lost interest in their work, their reaction towards the genuine concerns of the patients and their body language or facial expression smirk disrespect to patients” she said.

This negative attitude which these health workers portray tend to blight the gains made in the country’s health sector and the positive strides being made by a relatively large number of healthcare providers to ensure that patients receive quality care.

Another patient attributed this negative behaviour of health workers to their training which they acquired from childhood. He said people who are trained in well nurtured, disciplined and respectful social settings will not behave rudely to other people. He urged the health sector to enforce certain disciplinary measures to reduce the lukewarm, attitude of health workers.

These attitudinal problems make health facility suffer from low patronage or loss of clients and subsequent loss of revenue.

It is therefore vital for managers of the service to be mindful of the root cause of such problems and take proactive measures to arrest the situation.