They expressed the belief that, the country would be in a better position to systematically make use of research, bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers and effectively address its healthcare challenges, with such a guideline in place.

Currently, the various health research policies were fragmented with many at the institutional and ministerial levels, which rendered the health sector deficient, they indicated and stressed the need for them to be harmonised into a single document.

The engagement was part of activities at the maiden Scientific Research Conference organised by the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) on Tuesday. The conference, which was on the  theme: “Optimising outcome of health care delivery: The role of research in policy decision making in CCTH, Ghana’’ brought together researchers, medical doctors, officials of the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health as well as senior health service professionals.

Mr Benjamin Nyakutsey of the Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate of the Ministry of Health, underscored the importance of research in influencing policy and implementation of health programmes, and noted that a national health research policy would be essential in that direction.

He said considering the crucial role of health research, more funds must be allocated to funding for research in the health sector while ensuring that research findings guided policy making. Currently, he said only five  percent of the health budget was allocated to research and even with that, it had been centralised at the Ministry, making access very difficult while a chunk of the budget went into staff compensation.

Responding to questions on policy on screening and cost implication of ensuring regular screening, some of the panel members called for a review of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to allow it cover the cost of health screening.

They said majority of the diseases that people brought to the hospitals, which were covered by the NHIS, could have gotten to the disease condition if they had gone through health screening.