Residents of the Ejisu Municipality have urged the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to consider the possibility of outlawing nurses' use of mobile phones when on duty.

They claim that by doing this, nurses will be more attentive while on duty and will also be able to save the lives of patients who require urgent care and attention.

The residents made the appeal during the annual health performance review meeting held at Ejisu by the Municipal directorate of the GHS.

They cited numerous instances of on-duty nurses using their phones to play games while critically ill patients were left unattended.

The residents claimed that the attitude had resulted in the loss of many lives in the area and was preventing many people from accessing healthcare in the municipality's government hospitals.

Responding to the accusations and the appeal by the residents, Mrs. Josephine Ahorsu, the Municipal Director of Health Services, condemned the behaviour of those nurses and said it was unethical for a nurse to use a mobile phone while attending to a patient.

She assured the residents that the health directorate would work on their request to instill discipline among health workers in the area.

Mrs Ahorsu urged all health personnel in the municipality to take the accusations by the residents seriously and work as professionals, who understood the ethics of their work to regain the confidence of the people they served.

The purpose of the annual review meeting, she said, was to offer stakeholders the opportunity to evaluate the activities of health facilities and personnel in the municipality to help develop strategies to improve services to the public.