Management of the Tamale West Hospital (TWH) and the SDA Hospital have urged the public to make use of the various reporting avenues like suggestion boxes and complaints units to report unprofessional acts of staff.

They also gave the assurance of their determination to address all concerns and remind their staff of the code of conduct and client-nurse relationship to ensure quality health care delivery.

This was the outcome of a town hall meeting held in Tamale to find an amicable solution to challenges patients and their relatives encounter with nurses at the four main health facilities in the Tamale Metropolis.

These are the Tamale West Hospital, Tamale Central Hospital, SDA Hospital and the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

The meeting was attended by officials of some of the hospitals and the public.

The challenges patients and their relatives encounter with nurses at the four health facilities were raised during a scorecard assessment conducted in the Tamale Metropolis, which included charging pregnant women illegal fees, and charges for retrieval of bodies at the mortuaries without offering receipts.

The rest were paying for drugs and services that were covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which the facilities still charge against the Scheme, and midwives at the theatre and labour wards forcing patients to buy products such as soaps and delivery kits from their health facilities, among other things.

The scorecard was conducted as part of measures to Fight Unapproved Charges for Health Services (FUCHASS) Project, being implemented by the Centre for Active Learning and Integrated Development (CALID).

It was partnered by the League of Youth Association and funded by the STAR-Ghana Foundation.

The FUCHASS Project, which began in 2018 and will end in March 2020, seeks to ensure quality health care delivery by eliminating unapproved charges and extortions by health officials in the Tamale Metropolis.

Mr Abdulai Gomda, the Administrator of the TWH, said those acts were illegal and reprehensible, adding that the facility punished staff found guilty of such offences.

He advised the public to always demand receipts for payments made at the facility, saying that would help prevent illegal and unauthorised payments.

Mr Benjamin Anankpeing, who represented the SDA Hospital, condemned the unprofessional acts of the health staff and urged the public not to be discouraged by such acts to want to seek healthcare elsewhere other than the hospitals.

Mr Mohammed Awal Sumani Bapio, the Executive Director of CALID, commended the hospitals for the measures put in place to curtail unprofessional acts by the staff.

He encouraged patients and others who visited the hospitals to make good use of the customer care centres to report their concerns to the appropriate bodies for redress.