The Director of the Human Resource (HR) Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Margaret Cherebere, has accused some human resource practitioners in the service of seeking financial favors from fellow employees before processing their documents for assessment by the authorities.
She said some of them had extorted money from staff, delayed the processing of salary inputs, which had in some cases led to expired financial clearance, omitted eligible staff from promotion interview list and delayed processing of change of grade applications, among other unprofessional conducts.
‘‘Human Resource practitioners in the health service have been making news for bad reasons and these unacceptable behaviours and shortcomings more often than not do not always give our staff the best of services we are required to provide,” Dr Cherebere stressed.
The HR director made the accusation in a speech read on her behalf at the inauguration of the Association of HR Management Practitioners in Health – Western Region Chapter in Sekondi. It was on the theme; ‘‘HR – The Most Important Resource.’’
Professionalism
As a result, she noted, “The staff we manage are disgruntled and have serious misgivings with our conduct and these tend to dent our collective image as HR practitioners in health. The importance of professionalism can be gleaned from the fact that it is one of the six core values of the GHS.’’
According to Dr Cherebere, professionalism required that HR practitioners should be responsible for their actions, and that their conduct ought to conform to the accepted behaviour of the GHS, saying, ‘‘Unfortunately, HR practitioners in the health service have been making bad news for themselves.’’
Dr Cherebere declared, ‘‘I will, therefore, want to task the association to put in place measures to stamp out such unacceptable conduct by some of you because of the likely collateral damage it will cause all of us.’’
The director urged them to use the association to create the enabling environment that would promote best practices in the management of human resource for health.
Requisite expertise
She further advised the members to identify areas of interest and need and engage resource persons with the requisite expertise to talk to them, saying, ‘‘You must also promote learning among yourselves by creating a platform for members to share their experiences with the rest.’’
The Chairman of the Chapter, Mr Peter Jerry Kpatakpa, explained that HR practitioners played a key role in the health service and other institutions in the entire country by offering appointments, promoting officers after appointment, paying workmen compensation and ensuring the welfare of employees, among other functions.
‘‘It is on this note that we need to come together as a spine with many facets to be able to press home our demands when the need arises in order to serve our staff admirably,’’ he emphasised.
The Western Regional Deputy Director of the GHS, Administration, Mr Thomas Tawiah, who chaired the function, also noted that HR practitioners occupied strategic positions in the administration of any establishment.
He, therefore, urged them to upgrade their knowledge constantly and aspire to attain higher positions in the GHS, saying that as HR managers, it would not speak well of them if they did not appreciate the key role they played in the service.
