DOCTORS' FAILURE TO ACCEPT POSTING TO NORTHERN GHANA...GMA is worried (PAGE 22, NOV 14)

THE Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has expressed concern about the continuous refusal of some of its members to accept posting to the three northern regions.
At the moment, the total number of doctors in the three regions is 99. The Northern Region has 51 while the Upper East and Upper West regions have 33 and 15 doctors, respectively. Figures in respect of other categories of health professionals follow similar trends.
The President of the association, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, attributed the attitude by such members partly to the perception that being posted to the north was punishment.
Dr Winful also mentioned the “enormous protocol pressure brought to bear on managers by ‘big men’ to keep their wards (doctors) in the cities” as another contributory factor to the problem.
These, coupled with the advantages of working in teaching hospitals in Accra and Kumasi where some doctors supplement their “incomes with private practice and enjoying all the good things that the cities provide,” discourage the doctors from accepting posting to northern Ghana.
On the way forward, the president, who was speaking at the 51st annual general meeting (AGM) in Tamale, suggested that a package of incentives that included a car, 50 per cent of basic salary, free adequate accommodation and utilities be offered members who would opt to work in deprived communities.
“In addition, the period spent working in deprived areas ought to count during selection for post-graduate training,” he added.
The four-day meeting, which is the first of its kind to be held in the Northern Region, was on the theme: “Towards a better health care for Ghana — the human resource challenges and solutions.”
Dr Winful further entreated the leadership of the health administration in the country, majority of who hail from the north at the moment, to collaborate and evolve effective measures to address the imbalance in the system.
He, however, expressed the hope that with the successful hosting of the meeting in Tamale “that has made it possible for many of our colleagues to have a feel of what it is like to travel up north, I hope postings up north will show a significant increase after this AGM”.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Vice President, Mr John Mahama, urged the association to help find ways of addressing the needs and challenges of the health sector to evolve a better healthcare for a better Ghana.
He stated that the commitment by the government to improve the health sector was borne out of their campaign promises to the people.
According to him, the government would not renege on its pledge to increase the budgetary allocation and also improve on infrastructure development for the sector, and therefore, called for the individual commitment of the GMA in that direction.
“Together, through dialogue, the government and the GMA can develop workable synergies for the betterment of the health sector,” Mr Mahama stated.
For his part, the Minister of Health designate, Dr Benjamin Kumbour, urged district assemblies and traditional rulers, particularly those in northern Ghana, to create an enabling environment that could attract and encourage doctors and other health professionals to accept posting to deprived communities.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Steven Nayina, expressed the preparedness of the regional co-ordinating councils in the three regions to offer accommodation and other incentives to doctors who would accept posting to the area in order to motivate them to stay.