Govt Lines Up Incentives For Health Personnel

The Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, has appealed to health professionals to exercise the maximum restraint as government implements the numerous incentives it has lined up for them.

He said the government has the goodwill to do all that it has promised health workers, but it needs “time and space” to bring them into reality. Dr Afriyie was addressing health professionals at a fund-raising and dinner dance at the Banquet Hall in Accra, organised by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to climax its inauguration. The fund-raising is in aid of an awards scheme to motivate workers of the GHS to offer their best.

Dr Afriyie said health workers have placed a number of demands before the government and indicated that the government agrees with them in principle. The minister expressed concern at the disturbing trend of agitation by some health workers, although the government has begun implementing some of the measures aimed at improving their conditions of service. He urged them to be modest in their demands and said the challenge is enormous since it ranges from improved working environment through the provision of modern facilities to remuneration, among others.

Dr Afriyie said the country can never compete with the Western world and appealed to their patriotic sentiment to “help us collectively take care of the health of our people”. He said in spite of the numerous challenges facing the health sector, it has achieved the best results, according to World Health Organization’s standards.

Dr Afriyie said Ghana has fared relatively well in health indicators such as infant mortality, immunization programmes and maternal mortality. “We can do better” the Minister said, adding that “we have to look beyond the problem and strive to deliver good health services at affordable cost to all”.