Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor, Deputy Minister of Health, on Thursday said his sector ministry, would review and repackage the principles of Primary Health Care to focus attention on building community structures for effective health care delivery. He made this known in a speech read on his behalf, at the 12th Biennial Delegates Conference of Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) in Accra. The conference, which was on the theme: "Nurses: Meeting Communities' Expectation with Passion through Innovation," was meant to review the performance of the GRNA and strategise to meet the numerous challenges in health care delivery.

The GRNA also used the platform to launch its Golden Jubilee celebrations. Dr Kumbuor noted that poor sanitation, eating habits and lack of exercise had contributed to the upsurge of diseases in the country, while unhygienic conditions constituted a major challenge to the health sector. He said the high demand for improved health care required the building of the capacity of nurses and midwives to make them competitive and more customer- oriented.

Dr Kumbuor said the ministry had initiated measures to improve the capacity of nurses posted to deprived communities under the Community Based Health Worker Programme. He explained that this was to ensure nurses had control of such communities, while efforts to expand the nurse distribution ratio continued to help bring health care delivery to all communities. Dr Kumbuor reminded nurses of their professional oath towards selfless service.

He assured them that government would play its role of ensuring better service conditions, remunerations and other benefits to enable them contribute their quota towards quality health care delivery. Mrs. Jane Aba Mansa Okrah, Lecturer at Central University College, called for a paradigm shift from the current method of providing nursing to a more customer focused approach that would make the patient the centre of health care delivery. She called for the development of positive attitudes by nurses towards their clients and as partners with other stakeholders in the health care delivery system.

Mrs Alice Asare-Allotey, President of GRNA, pledged the commitment of nurses to network with other bodies to bridge the gap between training and practice. She said a new dressing code for trained nurses was being designed to enhance their image. GNA PAF/JA 29 Oct. 09