Dr George Kwadwo Amofa, Deputy Director-General of Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Thursday exhorted health personnel to respect the core values of their profession that such as empathy and care. He noted that instead of showing compassion and fellow feeling for the sick, some health personnel were just “working to be paid” and embark on strike action for improved working conditions at the expense of saving lives. Dr Amofa made the call when opening a two-day seminar on “Leadership Dissemination” a pilot project, at Cape Coast. The participants from Central Regional Health Directorate, Cape Coast Municipal, Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese, Twifo-Heman-Lower and Upper Denkyira, Gomoa and Mfantsiman Districts, would be educated on the need to improve health delivery through effective leadership approaches. It is being sponsored jointly by GHS, USAID and Adventist Relief Agency (ADRA). Dr Amofa said “the human touch in our profession is being lost”, a situation, he described as a “calamity” which must be addressed without delay. He said it was “worrying”, to see health personnel who instead of promptly attending to accident victims rather busy themselves “writing on a paper” or attending to other issues that were not urgent at that particular moment. Dr Amofa said the GHS believed in excellence, therefore health personnel should endeavour to acquire the right attitude and skills to help produce excellent results. He urged heads of health institutions and facilities to be honest, transparent and accountable. He noted that lack transparency bred suspicion and mistrust at the work place, resulting in low output and appealed to the participants to take the programme serious to help facilitate attitudinal change in the service. Dr Amofa announced that a customer service care would be launched soon as part of measures to enhance performance of health personnel. Dr Aaron Offei, Central Regional Director of Health Services said the project was to equip leadership in the sector to identify challenges in their areas and evolve plans to resolve them, as well as improve relations with their subordinates. He explained that the participants were required to choose topics in their areas based on their working experience, stressing that there was teamwork, transparency and enhanced performance where good leadership existed. Dr Offei noted that even though the service was constrained by inadequate resources, there was the need for health personnel to look beyond resources and work hard to meet the challenges. Dr William Brown, Country Director of ADRA, said the project was to improve access to quality health care by creating a shared vision for the Region. He urged the participants to search and find solutions to health issues peculiar to their environment and work hard to help attain the desired results. Issues to be discussed under the project, are maternal health and breast-feeding, family planning and increase in CHIP compounds in areas with low access to health facilities. During an open forum, some of the participants who included district directors of health and community health nurses, expressed concern about the activities of spiritual churches and quacks in remote areas that were a hindrance to effective health care delivery. Source: GNA