Health Ministry PS stresses importance of collaboration
PERMANENT Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Leslie Cadogan, yesterday, reiterated the importance of proper leadership and effective management as they relate to the delivery of quality and timely  services across the 10 administrative regions. Addressing the annual Regional Health Officers (RHOs) meeting in the Woodbine Room of Cara Lodge, on Quamina Street, Georgetown, he said the forum is vital for the modernisation and effective functioning of the health sector and noted that the challenges and issues are pointed out and solutions given to the officers.
Cadogan said, while the Health Ministry plays a big part in maintaining and developing the sector, the inputs of the other ministries are needed to complete the projects, as collaborative efforts are the driving force of successfully attained goals.
He said collaboration between the Ministry of Health and local government is necessary as they are not all specialists in the area, but are confronted with issues relating to human resources every day and asked to oversee projects that fall under the ministry.
Cadogan said, if the health sector is to progress effectively, the various ministries and responsible agencies need to be proactive in delivering timely health services.
He maintained that patients and citizens are always the main focus of health-care providers and, as such, it is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure that those persons below work in subordination carrying out their duties effectively.
Cadogon said it is important for citizens to know what is being provided to them all free of cost and how they can gain full access to these services.
Very important
“We have to be efficient and I’m also saying that timeliness in the delivery of health care is very important. The main focus of health-care providers is the patients and we must work along with the people of the communities to make sure they know what services are provided and available and how they can access them,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Narine Singh said the various health officers will be using the two-day workshop, through today, to present their reports for 2011 and outline some of the areas they are targeting for 2012.
He said they will report what they did in 2011 and will be doing in 2012, over the next two days and look at the challenges and the successes and issues they are now facing in the regions.
According to Singh, the aim is to bring together all the various stakeholders and find and implement strategies that would assist in sorting out the challenges that the sector faces at the level in the regions.
He concurred that, with health-care delivery, there can be a number of challenges and a collaborative effort is a very significant way to mitigate them.
“This meeting is to pull together the various stakeholders  from the different ministries to see how we can best sort out the issues, in the delivery of health care. They are many challenges and also successes but, from the various successes, there have been a few challenges.”
He explained that, over the next few days , several sessions of interaction will be convened, seeking to better equip the health-care officer with the relevant knowledge and skills to deal with challenges that may arise.
Some of the areas that will be discussed are gaps in medical waste management; finance and budgeting; reports from the regional health officers; reporting requirements; accountability and better management.
“So that, when they go back, they are better equipped and have ways of dealing with new challenges, accountability and better management systems, among others,” Singh said.
He reminded that it is not only the task of the subject ministry to maintain the health of citizens in the various regions, but every ministry plays a very significant role in this regard.
Significant role
“It’s not the Ministry of Health that provides these services but the others, like the Local Government Ministry, also play a significant role in delivering and so we are there to guide them and provide technical support,” Singh acknowledged.
He said it is the hope that the expected outcome of the meeting is seen as one with a bright and positive future in building health standards.
“We hope that, with this interaction and collaboration, the system will be strengthened and that is why the theme for this RHO meeting is ‘Strengthening the health services through greater accountability’,” Singh said.
This event occurs twice per year and it is the first for 2012, with the other to be hosted later in the year, between September and October.
He said they will be presenting targets, such like for immunisation coverage and, in terms of patient care, based on the budgeted work plan in 2011.
Singh said budgeting now is based on outcomes, seeing development and shortcomings and, over the last three years, they have been working on improving the service levels, one of the new initiatives put in place to measure outcomes.