Bear With Gov't-Health Minister urges doctors

Front Page Lead
05-05-09

THE Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, has appealed to doctors and health workers to bear with the government as it takes steps to address their grievances.
He said the government had inherited a number of problems in the sector, and that it had initiated moves to address such problems.
He said they should apply the tool of negotiations in whatever problem they had with their authorities and not resort to strikes, since that would be unfair to the taxpayer who helped to train them.
Dr Yankey made the call yesterday at the opening of a three-day orientation for 76 House Officers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra. They comprised 66 medical doctors and 10 dental surgeons.
He reminded the doctors of their Hippocratic Oath, taken by the recently qualified doctors, pledging to follow the standards set by their profession and try to preserve life by making the patient their first port of call in their line of activities, adding that they should always be a blessing to others.
He said the government would do everything possible to ensure that the right environment was created to enable doctors to carry out their duties.
Dr Yankey said, for instance, that health facilities would be upgraded, expanded and equipped as part of the process to make the work of a doctor comfortable.
“We have a vision to develop the health sector and bring it closer to what pertains in Europe and America. We have the people who can provide the same care that people get abroad,” he said, saying that what made doctors’ work difficult was a lack of facilities and tools to work with.
He said doctors should endeavour to discuss the problems they had with the appropriate authorities.
Dr Yankey indicated that the government wanted to make the country a medical tourist centre in Africa, and called for the co-operation of doctors and other health workers to ensure that that dream come true.
“Nobody can derail our efforts to improve the health sector. In the next three or four years, people would see an improved health sector,” he emphasised, and indicated that, “I would do everything possible to ensure that”.
He called on doctors who embarked on a strike in Kumasi to call off their industrial action as arrangements had been made to address their problems, including the payment of salary arrears.
Dr Yankey said the ministry would start meeting the executive of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to continue with negotiations and discussions on issues related to delayed salaries and conditions of service, among other things.
He urged doctors to accept postings to rural areas, since the government was committed to providing every area with health facilities.
He also commended the doctors for going through their training successfully and entreated them to apply the same discipline that they adopted in school.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Ben Annan, said the orientation programme was being held to let the House Officers be aware of their dos and don’ts.
He said they (House Officers) were starting at the time their seniors were completing, adding that the overlap would be continued to ensure better transition and health care.