The Allied Health Professions Council has issued a strong warning to health facilities across Ghana against engaging unqualified or unlicensed persons
The Allied Health Professions Council has issued a strong warning to health facilities across Ghana against engaging unqualified or unlicensed persons to manage patient information or undertake specialised healthcare duties, stressing that such practices are contrary to the law and could expose both patients and healthcare institutions to serious risks.
The warning follows compliance monitoring activities undertaken by the Council in the Ho Zonal Area, where officials reportedly observed instances of health facilities assigning responsibilities to personnel who do not possess the required professional qualifications or licences.
According to the Council, one of the major concerns identified during the exercise was the widespread use of persons without the appropriate training as health front desk officers and patient-data managers.
Registrar of the Allied Health Professions Council, Professor Issahaku Shirazu, said almost all the facilities visited during the monitoring exercise were found to be using non-qualified personnel in roles that should ordinarily be handled by trained health data managers.
He described the practice as an offence under the law and stressed that facilities are expected to ensure that persons responsible for managing patients’ health information meet the required professional standards.
“We have also seen that almost all the facilities we visited seem to be using non-qualified professionals as health front desk officers. This is by law an offence; they are supposed to have data managers,” Professor Shirazu said.
The Registrar disclosed that the Council would formally communicate with health facilities in the region to remind them of their obligations and the need to obtain clearance before employing individuals to manage patient data.
“We will write to every single facility in the region and let them know that it is an offence to employ somebody to manage patient data without first seeking with the Council,” he stated.
The Council’s concerns, however, extend beyond the management of patient records. Professor Shirazu also raised alarm over the practice of healthcare professionals working outside their areas of training and professional licensing.
He particularly cited concerns involving specialised services in dental facilities, where, according to him, nurses are allegedly being assigned duties for which they have not received the requisite training or professional authorisation.
Professor Shirazu warned that holding a qualification in one healthcare profession does not automatically authorise a person to practise another specialised profession.
“Our own colleagues have employed quacks. We call them quacks because even if you’re a healthcare professional and you go and practice as a radiographer, you’re a quack. You’re not qualified to do that,” he said.
The Council’s position means that health facilities are expected to verify the professional credentials and licensing status of personnel before assigning them specialised responsibilities.
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