The doctor-to-patient ratio in the Upper East has worsened, now at 1:23,000
The doctor-to-patient ratio in the Upper East Region has not improved. The latest statistics put the figure at one doctor to 23,000 patients.
This means that patients in the Upper East Region who seek the services of doctors may have to travel to other regions to meet their health needs.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Bawku West District, Tahiru Issahaku Ahmed expressed the situation which he said is a big challenge for the development of the district.
Speaking in an interview with Bolgatanga-based Radio A1, Mr. Ahmed said that the district and regional health directorates have collaborated on many occasions to attract trained medical doctors to the district and region, but the situation has not improved.
He stressed that some health facilities in the area have been upgraded but without the necessary personnel to manage them.
“The other day, we saw the patient-doctor ratio, and it’s almost 23,000 patients to one doctor and seriously. I think, I want to see how Sapeliga Hospital has doctors. Binaba Puskesmas has been upgraded to a polyclinic, so it should have suitable facilities with a polyclinic and should also have a doctor, but now they don’t have a doctor.
Mr. Ahmed complained that even doctors from the area refused to be sent to the area.
“Our own sons and daughters who are trained to be doctors do not want to come and work here. I struggle to understand. I don’t know if it’s because of the old belief that if you grow up in an area and start doing well, you will be hated or killed by your own people which prevents them from accepting postings to that area. .”
The Eastern Regional Health Directorate in March 2022 at a symposium announced that all ten medical doctors sent to the region in 2021 failed to appear for duty.
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