Some angry staff including some senior staff of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) have given management seventy two (72) hours to reversed their decision to outsource services of the hospital laboratory.
The angry staff wants management to respond in a written letter that it has rescinded its decision to outsource some laboratory services.
The staff who said they cherish their clients and the services they deliver to them, added that if management fails to communicate to them in writing within seventy two (72) hours, they would do everything possible within the limits of the law to put a stop to this intended arrangement which they believe is not in the best interest of stake holders.
The laboratory staff and some senior members are up in arms against management and the board’s decision to outsource lab services. Even though the lab is well equipped with the needed expertise or personnel, most patients frequently ask to have their lab work done outside the hospital.
Our sources at the hospital say the long bitterness and acrimony was increasingly gaining grounds and could ran the hospital down if care is not taken. Some senior staff who differ in opinion about the decision declared a sit down strike to register their protest.
Deputy Human Resource Manager and Acting Public Relations Officer of TTH, Misbaw Mohammed explained that the decision to outsource lab work was not a unilateral decision by management but was in consultation with the board and the health ministry.
When asked who conceived the idea of outsourcing, Mr Misbaw would not exactly mention names but said it was immaterial as to who initiated the idea. In justifying the decision, Mr Misbaw insisted the decision was in the best interest of their clients (patients).
According to him, management reached the decision after they carried out Strength Weakness, Opportunity and Threats (SWOT) analysis
But the staff say whoever conceived the idea did not consider the largest interest of the people within the hospital catchment area.They maintain that they cannot be held responsible if the lab was not functioning properly. They angry staff said they have ample evidence to show that the lab has been generating money for the hospital despite the challenges.
The idea of outsourcing the service of some units of the lab started at the beginning of 2015 when the current Chief Executive Officer, Dr Prosper Akabon took office. Reagents according to the staff, were always in short supply and broken down equipment took too long to repair.
The management is justifying its decision on grounds that some the staff at the lab are bent on sabotaging the CEO, a claim the lab staff dismissed outright describing it as unfortunate.
The main problems of the laboratory according to the aggrieved staff are inconsistent supply of reagents, lack of periodic servicing of analyzers and delayed repairs of broken down equipment.
This compelled the staff to demand that management set aside a revolving fund managed by a dedicated accountant, an auditor and a procurement officer under the supervision of the head of laboratory to address the above issues adequately.
BELOW IS THE LETTER OF TTH LAB STAFF
To: The Chief Executive Officer, Tamale Teaching Hospital
From: Laboratory Staff
Date: 6th April, 2016.
Subject: Protest against management’s decision to outsource some laboratory services
Dear Sir,
We, the staff of the Tamale Teaching Hospital Laboratory with the support of sister Associations in the health sector wish to state unequivocally that we do not agree with management’s decision to outsource some laboratory services to a private individual because there are no justifiable reasons for embarking on such an arrangement.
The laboratory is not solely responsible for its inability to function properly. We have ample evidence to show that the laboratory has been working and generating money for the hospital despite the challenges. Management is directly responsible for buying reagents and financially facilitating the repair of broken down equipment. Unfortunately, management has failed to resource the laboratory so that the laboratory would underperform, so management would have reason to bring in a private individual.
In order to improve efficiency and easily monitor performance of the various departments, the hospital introduced a software called Hospital Administration and Management Systems (HAMS), which tracks the input and output of every department. Sadly, three years down the line, the laboratory is the only department that has not been migrated unto HAMS thus the output of the laboratory is not realized.
Management has failed to show the direction and leadership needed for the laboratory to function properly. The laboratory is not the only department in the hospital that is not performing to expectation. All the departments of the hospital have been underperforming because they are ill-resourced by management. Besides, outsourcing some laboratory services to a private individual would mean patients have to pay more to access health care.
As a teaching hospital laboratory, teaching of students from health training institutions is one of our core mandates, when services are outsourced to a private individual, students would be denied the opportunity to learn how to perform some of these tests. The staff of the laboratory may also become redundant. As Government expands our hospital, more staff would have to be employed to deliver various services, not render the already existing staff redundant.
The laboratory has also been marginalized in decision making processes. Even the decision to outsource some laboratory services was never discussed with the staff of the laboratory, until we saw the advertisement in the Daily Graphic, March 3 edition (page 84) and wrote to management requesting for a meeting. It is frustrating to note that even when we requested a meeting with management in order to amicably discuss the issues, only the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Director of Medical Affairs (DMA) and the Deputy Director of Administration (DDA) attended. Surprisingly, the Directors of Administration, Finance, Pharmacy and Nursing services were present in the hospital but did not attend. We believe that management has acted in bad faith by deliberately giving the laboratory a bad name and now attempting to outsource its services.
Our meeting with CEO, DMA and DDA ended in deadlock with no tangible reasons given for outsourcing some of our laboratory services. At the meeting, the CEO told us that, the hematology unit is not on the outsourcing list because of an initiative he piloted with the hematology unit. He bought a new full blood count (FBC) machine and reagents for the unit. Because of this, the unit generated a lot of money for the hospital. This leaves us wondering why, the CEO could not replicate this successfully piloted initiative in other units of the laboratory. The main problems of the laboratory are inconsistent supply of reagents, lack of periodic servicing of analyzers and delayed repairs of broken down equipment. We are making a demand on management to set aside a revolving fund managed by a dedicated accountant, with an auditor, procurement officer under the supervision of the Head of Laboratory to address the above issues adequately.
We are therefore by this letter, giving management seventy two (72) hours (from the time of receipt) to communicate to us in writing, that management has rescinded its decision to outsource some laboratory services. If management fails to communicate to us in writing within seventy two (72) hours, we would do everything possible within the limits of the law to put a stop to this intended arrangement which we believe is not in the best interest of the stake holders. We cherish our clients and the services we deliver to them. We will therefore not allow anyone to compromise our professional integrity.
Thank you
Cc: Board Chairman, Tamale Teaching Hospital
All Directors of Tamale Teaching Hospital
Minister of Health
Minister of State in Charge of Public Private Partnership
Northern Regional Minister
Member of Parliament, Tamale South
All members of Parliament from the Northern region
Northern Regional House of Chiefs
Chief of Tamale
Northern Regional Director of Heath
Dean of School of Allied Health Sciences, UDS
Head of Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, UDS
Allied Health Professions Council, Ghana
Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists
Health Service Workers Union
Trades Union Congress
Ghana Registered Nurses Association
Ghana Society of Radiographers
Government Hospital Pharmacist Association
Health Service Workers Union
All notice Boards in Tamale Teaching Hospital
All Media Houses