IMPROVING DOCTOR/PATIENT RATIO (FEB 22, 2010)

THE perennial problem of health professionals, especially doctors, refusing posting to the northern part of the country to provide effective healthcare services for the people there is becoming a major obstacle to efforts at improving the doctor/patient ratio.
To begin with, health facilities in northern Ghana are woefully inadequate. What is more, in areas where these facilities are available, health personnel are not there to man them.
Our health professionals, especially the medical officers, take the Hippocratic oath to uphold the sanctity of life and yet some of them refuse posting to deprived areas to attend to the health needs of the people.
We acknowledge the poor conditions in our countryside, but that does not mean that our health professionals should turn their back on those who are highly in need of health care.
The Daily Graphic is disturbed by the refusal of 10 out of 13 pharmacists to report for work in the Northern Region, while none of the 15 doctors who were posted to the region has confirmed his or her acceptance of the posting.
This situation should not be allowed to persist because it can spell the doom of our health system, especially now that everything is being done to improve the efficiency of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic doffs its hat for Cuban doctors who have sacrificed their comfort to accept posting to deprived communities in the country.
The doctor/patient ratio for the Northern Region of 1:26,000 is alarming and requires that efforts be put in place to bridge the gap.
The Daily Graphic thinks that all health professionals associations should be concerned about the development in northern Ghana and sensitise their members to break away from the status quo where northern Ghana is considered a ‘Siberia’ by many professionals.
It is also about time health authorities reviewed the housemanship programme for doctors, such that all newly trained doctors will be posted to the rural areas as part of their national service.
The Northern Regional Health Directorate faces very critical challenges for which immediate and pragmatic solutions are required if the health system there is not to collapse.
It is common knowledge that many other professionals refuse posting to northern Ghana on the pretext of insecurity in the area. But this perception is not backed by any objective fact because, generally speaking, majority of the people in the area are peace-loving and prepared to support public servants posted to the three regions.
The Daily Graphic thinks that the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health should develop more teeth and deal drastically with health professionals who refuse posting to deprived communities.
We also urge the relevant authorities to look at the challenges confronting health professionals who accept posting to rural areas and deal with them promptly to motivate others to serve in the countryside.
Let us take steps to address the accommodation and other needs of health professionals and workers in the public service in order to encourage them to stay and work in the rural areas.