The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital(KBTH) has organised a “best workers” awards ceremony to honour hardworking staff and encourage others to do more for the hospital.

The event also served as a means for the health workers to socialise and strengthen acquaintances with colleagues from other departments.

Out of a total of 130 awardees, 20 of them claimed the “over all best” awards for their various departments.

The remaining 110 were duly acknowledged and honoured at their departmental levels before the main event.

Madam Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah, Deputy Minister for Health said the role played by health workers in meeting the health needs of patients involved sacrifices that could not be adequately rewarded.

She called on the KBTH board to continue holding awards ceremonies and upgrade it for staff to feel motivated to do more.

The deputy minister said the factors that motivated staff to give out their best were not only found in tangible rewards, but more so, in the general conditions of work.

As such, government lined up a number of projects in the 2020 budget to enhance the working environment of the health workers.

The projects would include; the construction of a new maternity block, refurbishment of surgical blocks and construction of a Urology Nephrology Centre.

She said the paperless system or E-health programme is one of the innovative ways government wants to adopt in making health care delivery exciting, less burdensome and cost effective in the country.

Madam Mensah noted that another initiative the ministry introduced to motivate and recognise hardworking staff was the Vehicle Allocation Scheme which allowed health staff to own brand new vehicles and other means of transport on hire purchase basis.

However, the initiative was confronted with challenges of non-payment by the beneficiaries, which affected the viability of the scheme, she added.

The Minister called on all beneficiaries to pay up outstanding debts for the revival of the scheme so that other staff would stand a chance to benefit.

Dr Daniel Asare, CEO of KBTH said management’s successful revival of the “best workers” awards ceremony and staff get-together produced a positive effect on the output of staff.

As such, he said they would continue to pursue their transformation agenda and make the hospital a centre of excellence for both local and international clients who desire to have access to a quality tertiary health facility.

Some other structures the hospital is looking forward to, he said included; the Acute Pain and Trauma Centre, a new ultra-modern Pathology and body preservation Centre.

He urged management and staff to work harder to help the hospital chalk more successes.

Mr Bernard Okoe Boye, KBTH Board Chairman attributed the successes attained by the hospital to the hard work of staff.

“Before this new board came in, a friend told me that our machines weren’t working and yet anytime I met a patient at LEKMA and asked them where they wanted to be referred to, they mentioned Korle Bu. This shows that it is the staff that keeps making people come back here, all the time.”

He called on all health workers to keep working hard even if they weren’t recognized.

“If you happen not to win an award today, it is grounds to work hard so that you would be awarded next time.”