The Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Stephen Yakubu says the uneven distribution of Medical Officers across the country deprived some communities access to quality healthcare.
He said some doctors blatantly refused postings to the Northern part of the country, but preferred to remain in the urban areas where they had access to better working conditions, recreational facilities and opportunity to progress in their career.
Hon. Yakubu was speaking at the 64th Annual Conference of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in Bolgatanga on the theme: “Addressing the Doctor distribution dilemma: the case of Ghana and its underserved areas.”
He said “Let me make a clarion call to members of the Ghana Medical Association to take a look at your core value of accessibility, nationalism, and professionalism and consider posting to deprived districts and regions of the country, especially the Upper East Region.”
The Minister said the support and cooperation of the GMA, the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service were needed to formulate and implement policies to ensure Doctors were evenly distributed across the entire country.
He said the government of His Excellency President Akufo-Addo was working to provide decent accommodation for doctors and specialists who accepted postings to the various districts.
He added that plans were underway to run medicine at the C. K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Navrongo to boost the doctor-patient ratio in the Region.
Credit- RCC
The Minister said the Municipal and District Assemblies in the Region were also tasked to identify and sponsor students within their jurisdictions with the interest to study medicine, and bond them to return and serve the district upon successful completion.
Hon. Yakubu said the initiative was the surest way the services of doctors could be felt and accessible to the citizenry.
No comments:
Post a Comment