Balance postings of health workers - Minister

The Minister of Health, Dr Kweku Agyemang-Mensah, yesterday appealed to the Chief Director of the Ghana Health Service to ensure equity in the postings of health service personnel.

He made this call in an interaction with the Directors of the Ghana Health Service at the beginning of a four-day working visit to health institutions under his ministry.

The Minister observed that whereas about 50% of health workers are found in the Greater Accra Region, the Ashanti Region has 20% while the remaining eight regions compete for the 30%.

“This is highly disproportionate and l, therefore, urge the Chief Director of the Ghana Health Service to ensure that other health centres in Ghana are served adequately to enhance health service delivery,” the Minister said.

Dr Agyemang further appealed to health workers not to shun any region or district they are posted to, adding that “you must be prepared at all times to put your services at the disposal of the people.”

The Minister also visited the National Health Insurance Authority, where he met the Chief Executive Officer and other top officials, and called on the leadership of the NHIA to involve retired health officers in public campaign for the health scheme.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of NHIA, in addressing the Minister, intimated that the Scheme was facing some challenges, which when attended to would enhance its general performance.

Those challenges, he said, included the issue of fraud, inefficiency in medical supply chain, and abuse of the scheme by some subscribers.