Colonel Vida Otoo (Rtd) proposed that the Hospital considers rendering services such as mental, oncology and cardio. She tasked the Hospital to employ more nurses and midwives and empower them to deliver quality services.

Col. Otoo (Rtd) was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Nightingales Week and Awards Ceremony at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra under the theme: “Access to Safe and Quality Healthcare: Nurses and Midwives Leading the Advocacy.”

Serving and retired staff of the Hospital were honoured for their hard work during the year.

Col Otoo noted that due to the innovative measures and strategies adopted by the Hospital it had now been put on national and international pedestal amidst the increasing number of patients to the Out Patients Department (OPD).

In 2016 out of the 117,282 clients who accessed the Hospital’s OPD, 69,156 were civilians, she said. “In the year 2017 out patients were 202,364 and out of that 117,795 were civilians”

She described the trends in the number of clients as positive.

Col Otoo appealed to the nurses and midwives to take continuous professional development seriously adding: “The world is now fast developing and there is the need for us to adjust and grow with the rapid development.”

She expressed disgust about attitudes exhibited by some nurses and midwives adding that such unprofessional attitudes had been one of the major hindrances to people accessing healthcare.

“The way you treat a patient may determine how the patient will recover. A warm smile, an encouraging voice, a decent response will not cost anything…. The job is difficult but go the extra mile,” she added.

Col. Emelia Duah, the Director of Nursing of the Ghana Armed Forces Medical Services, said nations worldwide could only boast of high productivity when their citizens enjoyed optimum health.

“The attainment of this optimum health requires a multifaceted healthcare delivery approach of which nursing and midwifery care play a key role,” she said. Col Duah expressed worry over the several media reports in recent times of alleged complications, negligence and deaths at some hospitals, which had been attributed to nurses and midwives.

She appealed to the nurses and midwives of the Hospital to live above reproach.