Region FOUR Health Services Dept.’s ramps up human resource capacity

Jan 03, 2020 News

– fulfils FOUR crucial SDGs in process

Recognising the importance of human resources to the efficient functioning of an organization, the Regional Health Services Department of Region Four during the past year ramped up its capacity with this in mind.

Dr. Quincy Jones, Regional Health Officer, Region Four

In fact the Department has been hiring practice with a focus of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] as well.
According to the Region’s Regional Health Officer [RHO], Dr. Quincy Jones, during the course of 2019, a total of 76 persons were employed. Dr. Jones stressed that human resources constitute an important health system component, noting that the work done in the sector is performed by, and for people.
“We at the Health Services Department Region Four, are cognizant of how important human resources are to enhancing and further improving the work that we do within the Region. As such, the health workforce is a group of highly skilled professionals and on average more than 50 percent of [our] health expenditure goes towards the health workforce,” Dr. Jones informed.
The RHO disclosed that his department views the health workforce as “all people engaged in actions to enhance health.”
This approach, he said, is adapted from the World Health Report 2006. He added that it includes those who diagnose and treat disease, those who preserve and promote health, health management and support staff.
“The Health Services Department Region Four was aggressive in recruiting as we are cognizant of the value and importance of these new employees to further enhancing and improving our mandate of delivering a very high standard of health care to the public.
“As the RHO, I remain confident that these new employees who have been employed to perform various tasks, as they have different skills set, will ensure that the standard and delivery of health care within Region Four continues to improve significantly,” Dr. Jones said.
The RHO stressed that since a ‘fit-for-purpose’ workforce is essential to deliver primary health care, over 70 percent of those hired have been placed at various health posts and centres.
He made it clear too that those hired were equitably distributed across the Region. This, he said, has assisted greatly in further closing real gaps in quality of care across the region.
“It is important to understand that in a time when at least half of the world’s people still lack full coverage of essential health services, we at RDC Region Four lead the way prominently within Guyana through the strengthening of primary care services. This will best cover the majority of a person’s health needs throughout their life,” he noted.
The RHO pointed out that during the hiring process a strong focus was placed on the broader government aim to meet the Sustainable Development Goals [SDG]. This meant that the department not only sought to hire qualified persons but those who were most disadvantaged with a focus on economically empowering women. “I want to reiterate that by hiring single parent mothers and women from disadvantaged communities, we were able to take a go at SGDs One [No Poverty], Two [Zero hunger], Three [Good health and wellbeing] and Five [Gender Equality] which continues to be one of our critical objectives in ensuring that we maintain a balance staff,” Dr. Jones underscored.
“Despite having to fill mostly vacancies that are traditionally male dominated, such as handymen, porters and drivers, we were still able to hire 42 percent females,” he noted. According to the RHO too “We see the employment of 42 percent of the 76 new staffers as a step in the right direction, while demonstrating in a tangible way that gender equality will continue to be one of our hallmarks. Let it be known that the hiring of this amount of women is a genuine demonstration of our confidence and trust in their ability and skills,” he asserted.
But according to RHO Jones, the department is still a long way off from having all the staff that it needs. In light of this state of affairs he said there has been continuous and overwhelming support from Regional Executive Officer, Ms. Pauline Lucas. Additional and continued support has also been forthcoming from the Ministry of Public Health and it was the Department of Public Service that ensured the employment of the 76 persons materialized.
Dr. Jones disclosed that a greater number of new employees are expected to join the Department in 2020 even as he assured that all systems are currently being put in place to ensure that the department through the various health centres, health posts and hospitals in Region Four are fully staff.
Among the vacancies filled during the past year were: handymen, porters, statistical clerks, pharmacy assistants, clinic attendants, community health workers, drivers and environmental health assistants.