The Ministry of Health (MOH) has instituted a national annual awards scheme to reward hard working and dedicated workers in the health sector.

Deputy Health Minister, Mr. Rojo Mettle-Nunoo who announced on Friday, said the maiden edition would be held at the end of this year.

Additionally, the Ministry in collaboration with the private sector would offer training to all categories of staff.

He was speaking at the 2011 awards ceremony organized by the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for its staff in Kumasi.

Seventeen (17) workers were presented with awards for their outstanding performance. They received LCD television sets, laptop and desktop computers, and four-burner cooking stoves.

Seventy four (74) others, who had served for more than 35 years, were presented with certificates of honour.

The overall best worker award went to Dr. Sampson Antwi, a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, and for his prize he drove home a Tata Indica saloon car.

Mr. Mettle-Nunoo acknowledged the challenges facing the hospital and the efforts by the Management and the Board to address some of them.

He said the government on its part had rolled out a number of interventions to compliment the effort of the management. The interventions include the establishment of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and funds to complete the maternal and child health centre, work on which started 74 years ago.

Mr. Mettle-Nunoo encouraged the workers to ensure industrial peace to help save lives.

He commended the management and board for the awards and urged the recipients to work harder.

Dr. Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, said the government would continue to create the right conditions for the health professionals to provide quality care to the people.

He praised KATH for the good job it has been doing and said it had earned a reputation for quality health care delivery and the expertise of staff.

Professor Ohene Adjei, the Chief Executive Officer, complained about the low level of tariff paid by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and said this was hampering revenue mobilization, expansion and improvement of operations at the hospital.

He appealed to the NHIA to review the tariffs to bring some relief to the public health institutions.**