The Ghana Medical Association has cautioned that name calling and threats of withdrawal of the certificates of medical doctors will not solve the huge human resource deficit problem currently bedeviling the health sector.
What the country needed was to take measures to retain and manage the “little” health staff it had whilst pragmatic steps are put in place to address the issue once and for all to ensure uninterrupted and quality health care delivery in Ghana.
Dr Kwabena Poku-Adusei, who said this at the 54th Annual Conference of the GMA in Cape Coast on Friday added that the Association was non-partisan and will remain as such to continue to provide better health care for all Ghanaians and seek better conditions of service for its members.
The four-day conference on the theme: “Improving under five survival in Ghana: challenges and the way forward,” is being attended by about 500 medical doctors and other medical practitioners across the country.
He said statistics made available in the Ministry of Health’s draft document on Health policy and Strategy puts 1.14 nurses per 1,000 as compared to World Health Organization’s (WHO) standard of 2.20 per 1,000 population and 0.10 physicians per 1,000 population compared to WHO’s standards of 0.20 per 1,000.
He expressed the regret that despite all these problems identified by the document, it failed to suggest practical steps to address the issue of adequate remuneration to help retain staff.
Dr Edusei-Poku said the Association had exhausted all the laid down procedures to seek redress for its remuneration and in this regard appealed to the Ministry to promptly find lasting solution to the Single Spine Pay Policy for health workers.
He called for a national dialogue for certain aspects of the NHIS that were of no benefit to its clients be corrected adding that quack doctors who are on the increase be given stiffer punishment by the law enforcement agencies to serve as a deterrent.
In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Alban Bagbin expressed concern that three years to the deadline on the Millenium Development Goals on health, the health sector was far from attaining its tenets and urged the Association to double up efforts in order to meet the goals.
He said even though some successes have been chalked in the reduction of infant mortality, much more needed to be done to further bring it to the barest minimum adding that appropriate referral mechanism with the various hospitals must be put in place to save infants and children from deaths.
The Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, who was the guest of honour appealed to the government to address the salary issue of medical doctors to forestall misunderstandings between them.
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