QUALITY CUSTOMER CARE WORKSHOP FOR TAKORADI HOSPITAL STAFF (PAGE 25)

PUBLISHED MARCH 20

STORY: KWAME ASIEDU MARFO, TAKORADI

THE management of the Takoradi Hospital has organised a day’s training workshop on quality customer care for 100 of its staff
to enhance health personnel-patients relationship.
The health personnel were taken through topics such as the definition of customer service, who your customers are, how customers behave, care brain-teasers, what makes an impression and tips for long-term retention.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Sekondi/Takoradi Medical Director of Health Services, Dr Tedd Avotri, stressed that in every health institution, every patient counts.
He, therefore, urged them to work as professionals since a patient is psychologically cured at the sight of a medical doctor.
Dr Avotri also advised them to work as professionals to release the stress on the facility.
He said at a particular time most of the categories of health staff were annoyed which meant that the whole system was annoyed.
"This problem will be reduced by our professional approach", he said.
Dr Avotri said the work load on health institutions was very heavy and as a result most health workers were leaving the institutions.
He commended the Takoradi Hospital for keeping its environment very clean despite the heavy work load on it.
The Medical Superintendent of the Takoradi Hospital, Dr Isaac Sagoe, described the customer care workshop as very important since over the years the health personnel had had problems with their patients.
He stated that "the workshop is to address this problem".
Dr Sagoe said with the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), there was an increase in the number of patients seeking medical care some of whom had bad tempers and quarrel with the staff.
"The patient population has tripled or in some cases quadrupled and there is the need to address this problem", he pointed out.