DR. VICTOR Brakohiapa, the deputy commissioner of operations and the medical director of Ghana Police Hospital, has stated that the global mass exodus of health workers in the country needs an urgent attention, adding that the exodus affects effective quality delivery.
He told the Chronicle in an interview that the number of nurses that have abandoned their motherland to seek greener pastures outside the country is very alarming. He said statistics available to the Ghana Police Hospital especially revealed that from late last year till now, the number of departing nurses is on the increase.
When asked about the reason for the mass exodus, Dr. Brakohiapa said apart from poor incentives, low remuneration andothers, the nurses at the Police hospital are being marginalized in terms of salary.
According to him, as a result of disparities in salaries, some nurses at the hospital deliberately take an annual leave but fail to resume work after the period expires.
"What we are experiencing at the hospital in terms of salary is less as compared to nurses at the ministry of health, Korle-Bu or other institutions. The salaries of the nurses at the Ministry of Health are more than those of the nurses here."
The medical director of the hospital said at present the ratio of the patients to the nurses is 1:15, stressing that the hospital is short of 145 nurses.
He noted that the hospital needs 250 but only 105 nurses are working at the hospital.
Dr. Brakohiapa called on the government to solve the low remuneration problem to avert the mass exodus of the health workers in the country to ensure quality delivery.
To curb the high rate of epidemics, the director urged the government to lay more emphasis on malaria, which is the number one, killer in children.
Dr. Brakohiapa said it was time for the government to fund advertising agencies to mount campaigns on malaria prevention in the country.
He advised that one should be careful about the kind of food that one eats and wash hands before and after meals, adding that during the rainy season the outbreak of diseases such as malaria, cholera and many others mostly can be on the increase.
