The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu has said he is committed to dealing permanently with cases of doctors refusing postings to the region. This, the Minister said, if not done, would continue to affect the health and general wellbeing of the people of the Upper East Region.
To this end, the Regional Minister has begun to implement two distinct strategies to ensure that the problem is addressed permanently. The first, according to Mr. Yakubu is to facilitate the running of medical programmes at the C.K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences. The other strategy is imploring Municipal and District Chief Executives, (MDCEs) to sponsor interested persons into the field of medicine with a legally binding condition that the sponsored person would return to the area and serve the people for an agreed-upon number of years.
The Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East.
“We have had very advanced discussions with C.K.T-UTAS. As I am also going around, I have already met my MDCEs. The strategy we are trying to adopt is to sponsor some of our brothers and sisters who are interested in medical schools and then bond them. When they come back, they will stay here and work for us,” he said.
An even more pressing concern for the Minister is the curiosity to understand why indigenes are particularly disinterested in working for the areas they come from.
“I am curious to know why people who are from here and are doctors do not want to stay here and help. It is something that we need to deal with. We need to boost the image of the region; we need to talk up the region,” he said.
He said should these strategies fail, the government’s Agenda 111 would be rendered moot.
Meanwhile, Mr. Yakubuhas expressed some excitement towards the progress of work in the Zebilla Constituency. Under the government’s ambitious Agenda 111, the Zebilla Constituency is expected to benefit from an Infectious Disease Treatment Centre.
The facility when completed would serve as a critical point for health delivery for people resident in the area and the Upper East Region as a whole.
Mr. Yakubu said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.
“These are good times for the region,” the Minister said.
A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
