Madam Rebecca Lariba Kpare, the Upper East Regional Officer for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of Ghana has urged midwives in the Region to demonstrate compassion, love and care for patients at their various facilities.
She said many expectant mothers preferred to stay away from health care facilities because of the callous behaviour of some midwives at those facilities and urged them to take the midwifery profession seriously and live up to expectation.
Madam Kpare gave the advice when she chaired a two-day Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training workshop organised by the National Association of Registered Midwives- Ghana (NARM-Gh) for some selected midwives across the Region.
The workshop, which was a refresher programme adopted by the professional body to add up and upgrade the knowledge base of midwives across the country, commenced in the Upper West Region and is expected to end in the Greater Accra Region in March.
Participants at the programme were taken through parameters for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of antenatal, prenatal and postnatal care, management of hypertensive disorders in pregnancies and incorporating customer care in the provision of midwifery services.
Madam Kpare expressed concern about the poor attitude of some midwives towards clients, coupled with bad customer care services and encouraged them to exhibit high sense of professionalism in the discharge of their duties, irrespective of the numerous grievances they may have, and the poor conditions under which they worked.
She called on them to be ambassadors of change, improve their interpersonal communications with clients, ensure client confidentiality and show respect to all clients at their various health facilities.
She expressed gratitude to the NARM-Gh for the initiative, and was hopeful that participants would allow the programme to reflect in the discharge of their duties.
Madam Mary Ofosu, the Acting General Secretary of NARM-Gh, in her address, said the Association received accreditation from the NMC of Ghana to run the nationwide programme, adding that it was part of the several initiatives by the Association to train its members to live up to the current trend in midwifery practice.
On her part, Madam Agnes Mariam Gumah, the Upper East Regional Chairperson of NARM-Gh, commended members of the Association for their hard work over the years, which according to her, translated into a significant decline in maternal and infant mortalities in the Region.