Dr. Clement Apaak, the MP for Builsa South, has questioned the Ministry of Health on measures being taken to make sure that medical professionals assigned to underprivileged areas of the nation accept their assignments.
A deadline for the policy governing the deployment of doctors to underserved areas was also asked by the member from the Minister of Health.
He said, “As we speak, this is a concrete reality. For instance, only five of the 10 doctors who were appointed in the Upper East region last year have accepted their positions this year.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, stated in response to queries in Parliament that his department is approving a report on the problem, which would then be delivered to the cabinet for decision.
“Mr. Speaker, not all of the actions are under my authority; some of them take place elsewhere. Depending on when we complete validation, I complete and approve my cabinet memo before presenting the resolution to Parliament, after which we roll out.
“That is the reason we indicated we couldn’t wait for the issue you brought up to be resolved. When you travel to the Eastern region, it’s not just the Upper East; last year, we sent ten people there, but only one of them returned, according to Mr. Agyeman Manu.
He claimed that the Ministry had chosen against posting the jobs in the customary manner and that instead, applications would be accepted.
Therefore, if we inform you that a position for a doctor is open and you are prepared to apply, we will interview you and post you there. We are putting an end to the notion that we will simply obtain financial authorization and post doctors where they are required to go.
If you’re interested, Mr. Speaker, we’ll post you, but you may sit at home and browse job listings. If you are not interested, we will have to stop adding more Accra-based physicians. The Health Minister continued, “So that is the measure we are adopting.