Thirty doctors and nurses from all 15 districts of the Upper East Region are participating in a two-day intensive training program on Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and pediatric life support, part of an annual initiative to strengthen emergency care capabilities in rural healthcare facilities.
The training, organized by Ghana Medical Help, uses a “train the trainer” model designed to cascade emergency care knowledge throughout the region’s healthcare system.
“We train two of them from each of the hospitals. When they go back, then they are able to do their training at the hospital level,” said Dr. Dominic Akaateba, co-founder and Country Director of Ghana Medical Help, in an interview with A1 Radio.
The program forms part of Ghana Medical Help’s Community Service Agenda, which provides continuing professional development for healthcare workers in northern Ghana through weekly virtual sessions and annual hands-on training.
Dr. Akaateba emphasized the critical importance of emergency preparedness, noting that accidents and emergencies cause more deaths in Ghana than any single disease.
“The truth is that accidents and emergencies kill more people in our country than any disease. Not even COVID, not malaria, none of that,” he said, citing statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department.
The urgency of improved emergency care extends across all social strata, Dr. Akaateba noted, referencing recent incidents involving high-profile figures, including a former vice president who had an emergency at a gym and a deputy finance minister who faced a medical crisis.
“It can happen to anybody. Even in the apex of it, when the former president was delivering his speech, an emergency happened in parliament to his bodyguard. So we probably think that the bodyguard should be more fit, is that not so? So emergencies can happen to anyone,” he said.
The training takes on particular significance in northern Ghana, where motorcycle accidents are common.
“Peculiar to our northern environments, the commonest means of transport in our environment is the motorbike. You can be very careful at riding, but unfortunately your colleague rider won’t be. Or you can even be an innocent bystander, through no fault of yours. And that becomes an emergency,” Dr. Akaateba explained.
The two-day program combines theoretical instruction with extensive practical training using mannequins. Participants learn proper chest compression techniques, pulse assessment, and other critical emergency interventions.
“So that when we see someone collapse on the street or in the hospital, we don’t carry water to pour on the person. Or we don’t stand, not knowing what to do. We rather know that we have to do a chest compression or we have to go assess for a pulse,” Dr. Akaateba said.
Ghana Medical Help has conducted this emergency training annually for the past five years. The frequency addresses both the importance of maintaining sharp emergency response skills and the high turnover of healthcare workers in rural areas.
“In basic life support and advanced cardiac life support, we say life is the reason why, and time is of the essence. What they will do to you in one minute is as important as anything. So you need to be sharp. You need to have reflexes,” Dr. Akaateba explained.
The program also responds to staff mobility challenges common in rural healthcare settings.
“A lot of this is what we call a high turnover of health workers. Today, the guys are here; next year, with what we’re doing, they likely may have moved elsewhere. Lots of them go to school. People get married, and then they move away. New people also come in,” he said.
The train-the-trainer approach ensures hospitals can maintain emergency care capabilities even as individual staff members come and go. Ghana Medical Help supports the trained personnel in conducting facility-level training sessions once they return to their respective hospitals.
Training participants come from hospitals throughout the Upper East Region, including Upper East Regional Hospital and the 14 other district facilities.
Beyond the annual intensive training, Ghana Medical Help maintains continuous engagement through weekly virtual webinars covering various medical topics. These sessions are recorded and posted on YouTube, allowing healthcare workers who miss live sessions due to work commitments or internet connectivity issues to access the content later.
“Post-COVID, lots of meetings, you don’t need to physically meet like we are doing today. We rather do it on the Zoom platform,” Dr. Akaateba said.
The combination of virtual continuing education and periodic hands-on training aims to address the professional development deficit that makes rural postings unattractive to many healthcare workers.
In developed countries, Dr. Akaateba noted, Basic Life Support certification is mandatory for medical practice and must be renewed every two years. While Ghana lacks similar requirements, Ghana Medical Help’s annual training program helps ensure healthcare workers maintain current emergency care competencies.
Source: A1 Radio | 101.1Mhz | Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith | Bolgatanga
