The Upper East Regional branch of the Ghana Physician Assistants Association of Ghana (GPAA), has described government’s sideling of rural and district health workers from been part of frontline health workers in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 as regretful.
According to the association, rural and district health workers stand a bigger risk of getting infected with the virus than their colleagues in the urban areas and thus also deserve government incentives for frontline workers.
Government defines a frontline worker as any health worker who directly involved in triaging, isolation centers, laboratory testing, ambulance services, holding centers, treatment centers, surveillance, and contact tracing for COVID-19.
But Speaking on A1 Radio, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the association, Peter Ayamba, said the definition of frontline workers by government will rather demotivate health workers especially those in rural areas as they remain primary victims of the virus.
“In the region here before a COVID-19 case can be realized at the initial stage, it has to come from the district levels.
And we all know that at the district levels, health facilities do not have treatment centers or testing centers so what that means is that, though health workers at these areas are at risk, they will not be seen as frontline health workers. This indeed is sad and unhealthy to us”.
Mr. Ayamba reiterated that, the criteria set for the classification of frontline workers was unfair to their members in the rural areas and will cause them to begin ‘thinking otherwise’.
“So, for you to be frontline worker your facility, first you must record a positive case of COVID -19, you need to be at the treatment center to be qualified to be a frontline health worker and if you are at the treatment center, the period in which you are at the treatment center, you need to be on schedule to be qualified as a frontline health worker.
Meaning, if you do not have a positive case you are not a front line health worker. If you have a positive case and you are not on schedule during the period that the case has been picked, you are not a frontline health worker. And if you are at the treatment center and you do not have a positive case for treatment you are not a frontline health worker. Isn’t it demotivating to us as health workers? “
Mr. Ayamba, however, called on his colleagues’ health workers to be cautious of the virus as they were at greater risk than they can imagine.
Meanwhile, 779 health workers have been infected with the virus with 9 deaths.
Source:|A1radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Moses Appiah
