Stay And Build Nation - Minister Tells Health Workers

Koforidua (eastern Region) -- The Eastern Regional Minister, Dr. Francis Osafo Mensah, has urged all health workers in the region to accept the responsibility to stay and help build the country rather than leaving its shores for greener pastures elsewhere.

"Your work is a calling, I acknowledge that health workers should be adequately motivated and remunerated and it is in this regard that your accommodation problem arc being given the highest priority," he rapped them.

He continued, "With support from the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) framework, the government will soon establish Community Health Training Schools (CHTS), provide ambulance service to enhance your work and improve your performance."

The regional minister said these at the launch of the Eastern Region branch of Ghana Health Service (GHS) at Koforidua. It was necessary for the regional minister to convince the health workers because of late the country is beset with demonstrations and strikes by health workers who demand for higher remuneration and accommodation by which failure to do so seek greener pastures elsewhere.

He said it is sad to observe that since independence in 1987, Ghanaians are still beset by preventable and curable diseases. It is estimated that over three quarters of our population at one time or the other suffer from malaria, diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, parasitic disease and other infections, he explained.

The regional minister advised the health workers to let allegations of malpractices such as illegal collection of money at the consultation rooms, which made some clients lose confidence in them, be the thing of the past.

Daasebre Oti Boateng, the Omanhene of New Juaben Traditional Area (NJTA), who chaired the launch, expressed the hope that the GHS, including all its constituent parts, will develop into a holistic entity to deliver optimal health care within the national resource constraint.

By this he meant that both the preventive and the curative aspects of health care must be given due emphasis by giving much attention to orthodox medicine as well as alternative therapies.

The traditional ruler called for intensive and sustainable public education to improve sanitation and responsible sexual practices to prevent the spread of infections.

The Omanhene appealed to the government through the Ministry of Health (MOH) to relocate the Eastern Regional Hospital (ERH) to decongest the Koforidua Government Hospital (KGH), which could become a municipal hospital to serve the growing population in the area.

Participants who attended the launch expressed the hope that the GHS will grow from strength to strength to become a formidable, discipline and patient friendly service.