Accommodation challenges affecting health workers distribution - Regional Director

Dr Kofi Amo-Kodieh, Bono Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), says the lack of accommodation has led to the disproportionate distribution of health personnel to the various hospitals in the region.

He said because of the lack of accommodation most health workers were refusing postings to deprived communities.

Dr Amo-Kodieh was addressing the 2020 annual Performance Review meeting in Sunyani to take stock of the performance of the many health strategies and interventions, and address challenges and share experiences.

Under the theme: “Reducing Preventable and Avoidable Deaths amid COVID-19,” was attended by 140 participants drawn from the 12 districts in the Bono region.

Dignitaries were the Vice-Chancellor of the Sunyani Technical University, religious leaders, health directors, and traditional leaders, and health practitioners, representatives of the midwifery council, stakeholders and health partners.

He said the situation had led to overstaffing of more than 400 Nurses in the Sunyani East and West Municipality in the Bono Region while facilities in Banda, Dormaa West, Tain, Jaman North and South were without nurses to deliver health services to the people.

Dr Amo Kodieh said out of the 215 health workers posted to some districts to provide quality healthcare, only 49 were currently at the post, adding that 15 would retire in two years, compounding the disparity in the region.

He said most Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Compounds in the region were built without the necessary consultation with the District Health Directorate, leaving the CHPS without accommodation and making the nurses lived in nearby towns.

Dr Amo Kodieh explained that CHPS compounds were very important for the delivering of Primary Health Care in the country to help achieve Universal Health Coverage by the year 2030.

The regional directorate would assist in tightening its measures all though the non-implementation of the Community Health Action Plan (CHAP) for CHPS remains a challenge in the region.

He said reducing preventable and avoidable deaths could only be achieved in the Region with the establishment of health clinics in all the Districts Hospitals.

Dr Amo Kodieh observed that despite the challenges surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, the directorate in the region was able to improve on Doctor Population ratio from one doctor to 9,816 people in 2019 to one Doctor to 9,131 people last year while Nurse Population Ratio also improved significantly from one to 349 in 2019 to one to 246.