Doctors refuse to be assigned to the EBU – Director

Regional news for Friday, March 5, 2021

Source: GNA

03/05/2021

Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi, regional director of the Upper East of the Ghana Health Service, said doctors and other critical health workers assigned in the region were refusing to work.

He said all efforts to convince them to report for work in the region were unsuccessful as there was a high attrition rate to other regions such as Greater Accra and Ashanti, thus worsening the already staffed shortage in the region and crippling efforts to provide quality. people’s health.

Speaking to stakeholders at the 2020 annual performance review in Bolgatanga, Dr Dzotsi said the Region was seen as unattractive and therefore advocated a high-level stakeholder approach to address the challenge.

“As we all know, the human resource remains the most important resource in every organization, but in this region the acute shortage of critical human resources such as physicians, medical specialists, medical assistants of all categories, midwives, scientists laboratory, pharmacists and many others, it is not good ”, he underlined.

The Regional Director noted that since taking office at the end of 2020, three doctors had been assigned to the Region, but none had reported working.

“When I was posted to the Region, I was given three doctors but they all refused to come. They have read my number and so if I call, they do not answer. I told one of them, he’s in Hohoe but the other two can’t be found, ”he lamented.

Dr Dzotsi revealed that the Region currently had 45 doctors and 505 midwives, which was unfortunately insufficient to provide the population with the necessary quality health services.

He said: “The doctor to population ratio in the Region is 1: 24,124, which is one doctor serving over 24,000 people and the midwife to woman ratio in the age of the facility is 1: 511 , or a midwife serving 511 pregnant women.

There is also a lack of financial authorization to recruit support staff and staff do not want to be posted to hard-to-reach areas, especially nurses.

The regional doctor therefore called for a collective approach of all major stakeholders to work to make the Region attractive, design incentive programs to attract and retain essential health personnel in the Region.

Dr Abdul-Razak Dokurugu, deputy director of clinical care, Upper East Regional Health Directorate, called for a review of some regulations that would force health professionals, especially doctors, to work where they had been affected.

He advocated that medical professionals who refuse to assume their properly affected areas should not be paid by the Ghana health service and should be removed from service.

This, he said, would not give doctors the choice to work where they have been assigned.

Dr Samuel Kaba, Director, Institutional Care Division, Ghana Health Service, Accra, who spoke on behalf of Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director General of Ghana Health Service, noted that the doctors’ refusal to work in certain areas had been a serious challenge.

He revealed that a proposal had been made to the Ministry of Finance for approval to ensure that incentive programs are made available to health professionals working in hard-to-reach areas, but that “hard-to-reach areas” achieve would be defined ”.