N/R Health Directorate reviews 2003 performance

Tamale, Feb. 10, GNA - Mr. Charles Abas, Northern Regional Coordinating Director, on Tuesday commended health professionals, who have remained in the country in spite of the challenges and worked diligently to enhance health care delivery in the communities.

"I acknowledge the immense contributions you have made to improve the health sector and brought comfort to the sick. You deserve commendation for not joining the bandwagon to seek greener pastures abroad," he told a review conference of the Northern Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in Tamale.

Mr Abas, who represented the Regional Minister, Mr Ernest Debrah, urged the professionals and other health workers "to take a chance to save lives in the midst of challenges," saying, "you should not throw up your arms in despair."

The three-day conference would, among other things, assess the achievements and challenges of the health sector during the year under review to be able to chart the way forward in the ensuing year. Mr. Abas stressed the need for Ghanaians to make the best use of their time, saying, "a minute spent doing nothing is time wasted to the detriment of development."

The Regional Coordinating Director urged personnel in the health sector to improvise in the face of resource constraints to be able to make the maximum use of the scarce resources at their disposal. He called on them to incorporate public education on the National Health Insurance Scheme in their programmes to promote a better understanding of the concept among the people.

Dr. Elias Sory, the Regional Director of Health Service said the performance review conference was a yearly routine exercise to provide a

forum for health workers to look at their achievements, failures and challenges of the past year to enable them to plan the way forward. The review, he said, was also to afford the GHS the opportunity to hold discussions with its development partners, including the UNICEF, ActionAid, World Vision Ghana, Catholic Relief Services and Send Foundation with the view to enhancing health care delivery in the region in particular and the country as a whole.

He announced that the conference had coincided with the first anniversary of the GHS and said an elaborate programme, including an "Open Day" and an awards/dinner/dance night, had been drawn up for the celebration.

During the three-day conference the participants, drawn from the various health units from the district to the regional level, as well as representatives from the development partners, would hold discussions on the various presentations on health issues to help improve the quality of health care in the region.