Health Minister Should Not Impose Hospital Director Of Ankaful On The Nurses

Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives have been following with keen interest the simmering issues in Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital regarding the petition by the Psychiatric Nurses Group to the honourable minster of health to remove the hospital Director of Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in the person of Dr Eugene Dordoye for his continuous abuse and disregard for nurses and staff human rights, conflict of interest, mismanagement of hospital resources among others.

Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives did independent investigations at the hospital to have a firm grip of the issues and to confirm the content of the petition. We gathered that countless attempts by the leaders of the Psychiatric Nurses Group through management to have the issues resolved yielded no results as the Director paid no heed to such windows.

Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives is aware that the Mental Health Authority set up a five member Facts Finding Committee to investigate the issues in the petition on 24^th to 26^th October 2017 but sources at the hospital revealed that only four members of the committee came to do the facts finding.

We also gathered that Senior Nurse Managers and some Deputy Directors of Nursing Service of the hospital wept before the Facts Finding Committee when giving testimonies about the psychological torture and psychological breakdown the Director of the facility is making them go through. That the committee disclosed to the executives of the Psychiatric Nurses Group that the Mental Health Authority has received as many as 17 issues against the hospital director; anonymous letters and petitions from staff of Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital about the leadership style of the hospital Director and calling for his removal from the hospital.

That the Facts Finding Committee assured the nurses of the hospital that the report of the findings would have been ready by 16^th November 2017 but till date the nurses are not privy to the content of the report, yet the delegations from the health ministry on the 17^th November 2017, in a durbar with the staff of the hospital told the thick anxious and agitated crowd that the health minister has given some guideline plans to ensure peace in the hospital and called on the nurses and staff to cooperate. Ironically, these guideline plans were not made available to the nurses and staff of the hospital.

It is intriguing to note that the hospital Director on 10^th November 2017 in a meeting with the central regional minister and the leaders of PNG admitted the allegations in the petition and accused some of his management staff and specifically mentioned the Deputy Director Nursing Service in-charge and the Hospital Administrator of plotting his removal and inciting the nurses to rise against him.

According to the nurses and staff of the hospital, their Director has told them time without number that he is the boss of the hospital and whatever he says is final. That he has also made it clear to them that no one can change him.

This embattled Doctor has worked at Pantang and Accra Psychiatric Hospitals but the staff could not contain him because of similar behaviour leading his transfer to Ankaful.

Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives want to humbly remind the Minister for Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu that the theme for this year’ Mental Health Day celebration was “Mental Health in the Work Place”, it is therefore crucial for the health minister to as a matter of urgency resolve the issues of the nurses at Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital for them to work with sound mind. These are mental health nurses who do not have sound minds themselves to take care of their mental patients because of the psychological stress the Director of the hospital has subjected them to as though they are animals.

The nurses and staff of the hospital say they cannot work with him anymore and call on the health minister to liberate them from their perennial psychological breakdown in the hands of Dr Dordoye.

Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives fear any attempt by the health minister to impose the Hospital Director of the hospital on the nurses will lead to unfortunate situation where the patients of the hospital will suffer in the end.

Imposing the Hospital Director on the nurses will also lead to low productivity since the relationship between him and the staff will continue to be stained, poorer and staff will not give out their best at work. The Director has hurt staff egos, so is his reputation too dented by the media reportage. So it is not the best decision, if the minister wants to impose the Director on the aggrieved nurses and staff of the hospital.

Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives is appealing to the honourable minister of health to do the honourable thing by taking the Director out of the hospital for lasting peace to prevail among the staff in the hospital.

The Director should be given the guideline plans in a new environment to start afresh where he can be monitored closely in order for him not to repeat such leadership style for the 4th time in his medical career.

We believe the honourable minister of health is a listening father who would not want his innocent children to suffer psychological problems in the hands of one person who has vowed never to change.

The psychological stress is enough. The nurses at Ankaful psychiatric Hospital deserves better treatment.

“When a change is too long delayed, violence erupts here and thereafter, not that man wills it, but the past accumulated grievances erupt with a volcano fury”. - Kwame Nkrumah.