Work on HRD for health policy and plan starts |30 October 2007
Health administrative, World Health Organisation (WHO) and allied professionals began a
It is being facilitated by Jennifer Nyoni of the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
When launching the process, the WHO liaison officer for Seychelles, Dr Fernando Da Silviera, noted that in October 2006, the ministers of health of small island states in the African region met here and requested WHO to assist them in the development of policies and strategies for HRD, and called for the involvement of all stakeholders.
“That is why we are happy that Seychelles has started this process to join other countries in assessing the HR situation to form the basis upon which to develop the HR plan,” he said, noting that it was following constant discussion between the Seychelles Ministry of Health and regional office in Brazzaville that the process of analyzing the human resource for health situation was started on October 9, 2007.
“The findings will be shared with you for your inputs and comments in order to draft best policy and plan for human resource for health for Seychelles.
“WHO stands ready to support this effort not only at development stage but during implementation as well,” Dr Da Silviera said.
“The list of issues and challenges is long in most countries in the region: Weak technical capacity in human resources policy direction, strategic planning and management; lack of coordination between human resources service requirements, planning and production; production that is not always in line with health systems requirements; shortages, still mix and distributional imbalances,” he said.
The liaison officer also named training, which is largely focused on doctors and nurses compared to other types of health workers, insufficient and inconsistent supply of health teaching aid and equipment, outdated curricula that focus more on curative, insufficient teaching staff, inconsistency of data, duplication of data, as some additional challenges. He also talked of a lack of mechanisms to process and manage data to ensure easy access in getting it into decision making concerning policies, plans and implementation, absence of private sector data, effects of HIV/Aids affecting health workers as other issues that need to be discussed.
When making her remarks, the director for health planning division, Gemma Barbier, said that human resources form the core of any organization and this is especially relevant in a complex, professionally based organization such as the health service.
“Today’s health service faces many challenges, one of which is the greater public expectations of the health care practitioners to deliver prompt, efficient and quality services. Furthermore as managers we are expected to be cost-effective in other words - do more with less,” she said.
Mrs Barbier said that rising up to those challenges demands an adequate workforce that is equipped with the right attitude, new knowledge and skills, which can only be achieved through a well-thought out and well-developed HRD policy.
“It is for this purpose that you are all gathered here today. Your roles are to analyze the present situation of the HR in the Department of Health, map out the way HR should be developed for health and construct the framework in which methodologies of HRD would be implemented.
“Your input is being sought in the strategic stage of the process so that later you can engage in the crucial stage of developing the HRD policy and plan,” she said, adding that it is a well-recognised fact that all organizations survive on effective HRD.