Patience Ami Mamattah: Award-winning healthcare manager
It is more appropriate and motivating to celebrate people in their lifetime than to eulogize them after death; hence, I choose to recognise a seasoned, tenacious, result-oriented and an astute professional who is very pivotal in healthcare delivery in Ghana.
Her name is Patience Ami Mamattah from Akatsi in the Volta Region. She was a nurse, later became a health service administrator and currently, she is the Municipal Director of Health Services in the Ghana Health Service (GHS) pursuant to her qualification as a public health professional.
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As such, she superintends healthcare delivery in the Ashaiman Municipality. Last year, the Ashaiman Municipal Health Directorate was adjudged one of the first five performing municipalities out of 29 districts in the Greater Accra Region.
What Mrs Mamattah has achieved as a female healthcare leader is worth celebrating nationwide through this medium, the Daily Graphic.
Education
Mrs Mamattah is a proud gem and alumna of Dzodze-Penyi Senior High School located at Dzodze in the Volta Region, where she pursued her GCE ‘O’ Level courses in that school from 1989 to 1993. She studied as a private candidate and passed her GCE ‘A’ Level exams in 1998 after her training as a nurse from 1994 to 1997.
She pursued the general nursing course at the 37 Military Hospital Nursing and Midwifery Training College. Consequently, the Nursing and Midwifery Council certified her to practise nursing.
Indeed, Mrs Mamattah worked as a nurse for four consecutive years until she decided to become a health service administrator.
Accordingly, Mrs Mamattah pursued BSc Health Service Administration at the erstwhile University of Ghana School of Administration (now, University of Ghana Business School) from 2000 to 2003.
As a Houseman Health Service Administrator, she went through a one-year mandatory internship at the Tema General Hospital under the supervision of Kingsley Asamoah Bediako, one of her senior professional colleagues and mentors.
The determined Mrs Mamattah again studied MSc Applied Health Social Sciences at the University of Ghana School of Public Health from 2008 to 2009.
The DZOSEC “girl” equally studied Master of Public Administration at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from 2014 to 2016.
Additionally, Patience is a proud Fellow of the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington Seattle; where she obtained her fellowship in International Public Health Leadership (IPPHL). Currently, Mrs Mamattah is a PhD student.
Working Life
Prior to her appointment as a Director in the GHS, Mrs Mamattah once worked as a senior staff nurse at the 37 Military Hospital, an Administrative and Client Services Manager at the Nyaho Medical Centre, a nurse and later, a health service administrator in the GHS.
She once headed the Administration and Support Services Department of the Tema General Hospital. She worked in various echelons of the GHS, from polyclinic through hospital to Municipal Health Directorate. In fact, she is the first female health service administrator to have become a District Director of Health Services in the GHS.
In her career life, Mrs Mamattah was tutored and mentored by various astute healthcare managers such as Yaw Brobbey-Mpiani, Dr Kwasi Addai -Donkor, Augustine Yaw Boamah and Dr Ernestina Quaynor, among others.
Research Interest
Mrs Mamattah has participated in various local and international research projects involving the United States (US) Navy (NAMRU), the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, the Regional Population Studies (RIPS)-University of Ghana, the University of Ghana School of Public Health, universities of York and Leeds.
Using her strong research and analytical skills, she facilitated operational research relevant to improving healthcare delivery.
She takes delight in building effective and functional institutional structures that promote universal health coverage and health system strengthening.
Perhaps Kofi Annan was referring to Mrs Mamattah’s developmental leadership impact when he asserted, “…there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women”.
Professional Associations
As a nurse, Mrs Mamattah was a member of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA). Currently, she is a renowned and well-celebrated member of the Association of Health Service Administrators, Ghana (AHSAG) and an instrumental member of the Chartered Institute of Administrators and Management Consultants (CIAMC), Ghana, where she holds a charter. She is also a member of Association of District Directors of Health Services, Ghana.
Religion and Family
Patience is a Christian. She worships with the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) Towdah Temple, Tema Community 25 where she serves as the vice-president of the Women Fellowship (Precious Vessels of Virtue), head of protocol and an announcer.
She is equally a dedicated wife and a mother of four children, including a set of twin boys. She is married to Lovestone Elikplim Mamattah.
Achievements
In her bid to contribute to both academic and professional knowledge, Mrs Mamattah authored her first book titled ‘ABCD of Safe Environmental & Sanitation Practices and Infection Prevention during Pandemics’ in November 2021. This book is highly recommended to healthcare students and practitioners.
In recognition of her sterling performance and remarkable feats in healthcare delivery in Ghana, the University of Ghana Business School Alumni Association presented an award to Mrs Mamattah.
She received this award on Friday, July 8, 2022, at Labadi Beach Hotel during the climax of the Association’s 60th Anniversary celebrations.
Mrs Mamattah, the doyenne of responsive healthcare delivery in Ghana, ayekoo and keep it up. I guess the Association of Health Service Administrators, Ghana is truly proud of your remarkable performance and achievements.
The writer is a health service administrator. Email: [email protected]