3 Northern regions need more health personnel

The health of the people has been an issue of great importance to every nation. That is why in many countries provision of health services is classified as being part of essential services and special attention is usually paid to personnel who work in that sector.

In Ghana many interventions have been made in the health sector as a way of ensuring that it has the personnel and facilities to guarantee a healthy population for the nation’s development.

These interventions include the provision of more healthcare facilities and equipment,  training of more health personnel and the general improvement of the service conditions of staff of the Ghana Health Service. 

However, like many others, the health sector has suffered the rather unfortunate fate of the uneven distribution of personnel throughout the country. Whereas major cities continue to get personnel, sometimes over and above what they require to operate effectively, remote areas have struggled to get the least possible personnel to man essential services. 

Many reasons have been given for the reluctance of many to accept posting to remote areas but in these cases, the three regions of the northern part of the country appear to be at the most unfortunate end of the ladder. Statistics indicate that over the years the doctor-to-patient ratios in these regions have been among the worst in the country. Although the trend appeared to have been improving in recent times, reports that these regions might be slipping back to unacceptable levels are worrying.

As a result of the freeze on employment into the public sector around 2010 as a way of reducing the wage bill, it has not been possible to replace retiring staff of many state institutions, leaving a huge gap in the levels of critical staff needed in the health sector. The three northern regions have been badly affected.

Already, many Ghanaian professionals erroneously refuse postings to the regions and therefore with the current situation, it may not be long before the health systems in these regions and others considered deprived ground to a halt.

During a tour of the three regions in the northern part of the country by the Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, the Upper East Regional Director of Health, Dr Kwaku Awoonor, made a passionate appeal for a special dispensation for the health directorates in the three regions to recruit more health personnel to augment their staff.

The Daily Graphic is happy with the response of the ministry that it would collaborate with the Ministry of Finance to employ more critical health personnel for the regions as a first step.

We want to believe that the government will urgently consider the need to engage more health personnel for the three regions to stop the already precarious situation from deteriorating any further. 

It is our view also that when approval is given to recruit, health personnel should not drag their feet but readily accept posting to these regions to save the situation.

In addition to this, the government must make good promises made over the years to give special inducements to personnel posted to deprived areas. This will assure workers that their sacrifices for the nation have not been in vain.