THE Wa Regional Hospital has sent a save our souls (SOS) message for urgent measures to be taken to avert a catastrophe in healthcare delivery in the Upper West Region following the departure of five Cuban doctors who have been complementing the efforts of the only two Ghanaian doctors at post.
The tenure of the five Cuban doctors with the Ghana Health Service is expected to expire at the end of this month and this call must be heeded and given an urgent attention in view of the fact that the hospital is supposed to operate with 25 doctors.
The scenario given means that the hospital is seriously understaffed in terms of the doctor-patient ratio. Also of grave concern is the inadequate number of nurses at the same hospital and the fact that all the nurses are ageing. There is, therefore, the need to attract and retain younger ones.
That seems to be one of the major challenges facing our health service, which demand that some innovations are put in place to confront the problem head-on.
It is for this reason that the DAILY GRAPHIC has always lauded the sacrifices that doctors of the Cuban Brigade have made to provide health care services to our people even in areas where Ghanaian doctors would not want to go.
The Upper West Regional Director of Health, Dr Alexis Nang Beifubah, described the situation as “getting out of hand” and pleaded with the authorities to treat it as a matter of urgency when he briefed the Regional Minister, Alhaji Issahaku Salia, and his deputy, Mr Caesar Kale, during a visit to the hospital.
Health, it is said, is wealth and a healthy mind in a healthy body is what is required for every national development effort. It is for this reason that over the years, governments the world over have continued to spend huge sums of money and resources to improve the health status of their people.
It is thus the responsibility of the government to ensure the provision of basic health facilities. At a certain stage in our history, particularly in the 1980s, the concept of primary health care was introduced as a UN initiative and adopted by Ghana so that health facilities could be provided within a certain radius.
The idea behind the initiative was to reduce the hustle and bustle and travels over long distances in seeking healthcare. Several years on and after 53 years of independence, we should not be having challenges in our healthcare system, all things being equal.
Our peculiar situation of inadequate number of health professionals has been aggravated by the exodus of health professionals, especially doctors and nurses, seeking greener pastures abroad.
Whatever the challenges have been, successive governments have done their best to contain the situation by training more health professionals and motivating them to stay and contribute their quota to the country's development.
The additional duty allowance, for instance, was an intervention by the government to motivate health professionals and make them more committed to their work, as well as the Hippocratic Oath, to always endeavour to save lives.
It is our hope that the single spine salary scheme will further improve the conditions of service of all public sector workers, including those in the health sector.
We, therefore, make a humble plea on behalf of our compatriots in the Upper West Region for their call to be heeded.
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