GHS to ban usage of phones in hospitals

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) as part of measures to instil discipline amongst health care providers in the country is set to ban personnel from the use of mobile phones during working hours.

The GHS says it has received numerous complaints from relatives of patients on how health professionals spend time on their phones even when attending patients.

“The rationale behind the ban is to get the health officers to pay attention to their job when on the field. Some patients and their family members complain bitterly on how some health professionals use their phones when they visit the hospitals. It is not a good sign.

“We’ll put in place an intercom system through which health officials can communicate. We’ll issue a statement and most of the institutions will have the intercom systems working. In most organizations except in some banks and some corporate institutions, you’ll find most officials of the facilities on their mobile phones. In the Western World, in most of the hospitals, networks do not work well to help check some of these irregularities. Intercom systems are used. We’re considering scrambling the network system in the hospitals so health officials cannot use them while at post”. The Director General of the Ghana Health Service Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare said in an interview on Starr FM.

The regulation, however, gives exceptions to conditions where medical officers and practitioners may use the mobile phone gadgets to access information from the Internet that would rather expedite their services.

The ban is also extended on photography taking at the hospital facilities by personnel whether through the taking of ‘selfies’, or any objects and actions and for onwards distribution on Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Snap among others.