Resources would be managed efficiently - Prof. Danso-Boafo

Accra, June 22, GNA -Professor Kwaku Danso-Boafo, Minister of Health on Wednesday said available resources would be managed efficiently to create an attractive environment for health workers to perform to improve the generation of the nation's wealth He said, "we are in the process of assessing new areas to make working in the health sector attractive".

Prof. Danso-Boafo made the remark when he stimulated discussions at the first of a series of lectures being organised by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in Accra on the theme "The wealth of the nation is the health of its people" The lectures are to draw the activities of GMA closer to the people and to provoke discussions on how best to focus on the health needs of Ghanaians to enable them to appreciate that their health is the nation's wealth.

Prof. Danso-Boafo said "incentive packages covering a wide scope including accommodation, transport, intramural practices and a lot more are under serious consideration" for health workers. He said health improvement must be seen as a leverage for social development, which must be devoid of "political controversy".

"To do this we must relinquish many of our preconceived notions about the best ways of attaining health and adopt approaches that may be fundamentally different from those existing at present in many countries".

A stop must be put to the practice whereby "resources are far too often located at central institutions and become scantier in direct ratio to distance from major cities and towns".

Prof. Danso-Boafo called for genuine participation from individuals, families and communities to ensure that health care delivery is organised in a way that could exact genuine participation.