Health Services Director Visits Upper East

Bolgatanga, Oct. 20, GNA - The Ghana Health Service (GHS) will identify and support one school in each region to enable children of health workers receive good education.

It will also channel allowances for deprived areas through the district assemblies to be disbursed to health workers.

Professor Agyeman Badu Akorsah, Director General of Health Services who disclosed this in Bolgatanga on Monday, said these are some of the incentives extended to health workers in the country. He was speaking during a courtesy call on the Upper East Regional Minister's special assistant Mr. Paul Aloa, at the start of a four-day working visit to the region.

The Director general was accompanied by the Regional Director of Health Services Dr. Joeseph Amankwah and members of the regional health committee.

Professor Akorsah admitted that there were so many problems facing health workers in the country and that this has led to the exodus of personnel from the service.

He added, however, that the Ministry had made a number of recommendations to solve the problem of health workers. He said even though the Ministry is aware of the numerous problems facing the service, it has no resources to meet every need because it is depending on its internally generated revenue.

He called for a three-year financing system for the service instead of waiting for the budget to be read yearly.

On the shortage of medical doctors in the region, Professor Akorsah advised the regional health committee to use the local initiative with prominent people to hunt for personnel, while those at post are motivated with the payment or part payment of their utility bills.

He said the Ministry is also suggesting that every doctor should be entitled to one year sabbatical leave to enable the person work in any region with pay, while the ministry will start a local elective programme that will enable student doctors to practice in the three Northern regions to encourage them to stay backing instead of travelling outside the country.

The Director- General acknowledged and commended the regional committee for the recommendations put forward, saying their suggestions will be considered at the national level.

The Regional Minister's Special Assistant Mr .Aloa, thanked the Director-General for his visit and said it would yield good results. The chairperson of the regional health committee, Miss Veronica Munya, had earlier briefed Professor Akorsah on the problems facing health workers in the region, and provided some recommendations to solve them.