Bolgatanga, Aug 22, GNA – The Upper East Regional House of Chiefs has called on the government to design and implement an incentive policy to motivate health personnel working in rural communities.
This would help attract and retain critical health staff in deprived and remote regions and communities, especially in Northern Ghana to render quality health services to the people.
The Chiefs made the call at their second general meeting of 2021 in Bolgatanga.
The proposal followed the constant refusal of critical health staff, especially medical doctors posted to the region, to assume work while many others are requesting transfers outside the region.
The situation, in recent years, had adversely affected health care delivery in the region.
A report by Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi, the Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, said nine medical doctors were posted to the region in 2020 but only one assumed duty while in 2021, none of the four posted to the region reported to work.
Also, the acute shortage of midwives and nurses in the region due to the high attrition rate had crippled quality health care delivery in the region.
“As at mid-year 2021, the region recorded 24 maternal deaths which are the highest in five years.”
The Paramount Chiefs and other stakeholders said the situation needed urgent attention to avert the canker and improve access to quality health care in the region.
Pe Dituundini Adiali Ayaitam III, the President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, who spoke on behalf of the chiefs, indicated that the northern part of Ghana, especially the Upper East Region was rural and deprived so there was the need to formulate enticing incentive packages to reward health personnel who accept postings to the region and other rural regions.
“Staff retention in the region is a big issue because if someone is posted to the region the person does not want to come and if they even come, they want to go back and it is very worrying. Meanwhile, we have a lot of health problems and we need these critical health staff to provide quality care to our people, especially the women and children,” he added.
The President, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Chiana Traditional Area in the Kassena-Nankana West District, noted that the Chiefs in the region had resolved to provide motivational assistance to health workers posted to their traditional areas to make them comfortable to work but the government needed to do more to motivate them to stay.
He said, “if there is a special incentive or package for people who are posted to the Upper East and the rest of the northern sector, I am sure they will be willing to stay but we the chiefs, the best we can do is to speak, encourage and try to support those posted to our traditional areas so that they will feel at home to enable them to stay longer and serve the health needs of our people.”
The Paramount Chief called on his colleague Chiefs to employ their various gatherings such as traditional council meetings, durbars, and festivals, among others to intensify education on the need for adolescents to have access to sexual and reproductive health information to help curb the rising teenage pregnancy menace in the region.
GNA