Health director bemoans the plight of doctors in rural areas

Wa, Feb. 17, GNA - Dr Alexis Nang-beifubah, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, has observed that the lack of a clear cut career progression for medical doctors serving in the rural areas is a major disincentive to them.

"Any doctor who goes to Tumu for example is literally forgotten. but at least if a doctor is assured that after three years service in a rural area, he would be given the chance to go out for a post graduate course, he would gladly agree to work there," he stressed. Dr Nang-beifubah made the observation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Wa, in reaction to newspaper reports that six medical doctors posted to the region this year has not assumed duty. He said most doctors in the rural areas worked daily and round the clock, but earned the same pay and conditions of service like their colleagues in the urban centres.

Dr Nang-beifubah noted that working in deprived areas deny the doctors social privileges like sending their children to good schools. "I can sacrifice to work in the rural areas but I cannot sacrifice the future of my children," he said. He admitted that the refusal of some heads of medical institutions to share resources available to them with doctors posted to the region acts as disincentive to the medical personnel. Dr Nang-beifubah expressed the need for the posting of doctors with five or more years experience to the area, to man medical facilities in the rural areas.