27-08-2010
Narration: The Upper East Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo has described as unfortunate and unacceptable, the current doctor to patient ratio of 1-34,000 in the region. He however appealed to sons and daughters in the health profession who are native of the region but are working elsewhere to return home and offer humanitarian and voluntary health service delivery to their mother region for the time being. This, according to Mr. Woyongo, would go a long way to complement government’s effort in addressing the situation. Mr. Woyongo expressed this concern at the Regional ‘Meet the Press’ series, held at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region. A cross section of the public and dignitaries including the information Minister, John Tia Akologo and his deputy, Mr Agyenim Boateng among others were present at the meeting. Here is a report by Isaac Asare.
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Report
The meeting was to afford media practitioners and the public the opportunity to put to fore relevant issues and matters affecting their socio-economic lives and also be abreast with the developmental activities carried out by the government since its took over power. Mr. Woyongo, who gave a brief presentation of the state of the region with respect to areas such as security, roads, education and agriculture among others, bemoaned the shortage of doctors in the region. He said the state of health delivery in the region is one of the worst in the country, especially with regards to health personnel. He added that despite the manpower shortage of health professionals, there has been significant improvement in the health sector of the region particular in supervised delivery, as well as reduction in malaria and maternal and child mortality. He attributed the success story to the tireless effort of the few health personnel manning the 172 health facilities in the region. This, he noted, include hospitals, health centres, clinics, CHPS Compounds, and a maternity home. Mr. Woyongo said the region is expecting 5 new doctors this year and called on the government through the Ministry of health to help assist the region with more doctors and other health professionals. In the area of water and sanitation, Mr. Woyongo was happy to announce that a loan of 5 million dollars and 40 million euros has been secured for the expansion of the Vea Raw Water treatment plant and the construction of Water treatment plant at Tono to serve areas such as Navrongo, Paga and Bolgatanga respectively. Additionally 75 million dollars have also been sourced for the provision of boreholes and Small Town Water Systems for six regions, including the Upper East. Mr. Woyongo also touched on the increasing school enrolment of the region and attributed it to the number of government’s interventional policies such as the school feeding Programme, provision of basic school infrastructure, capitation grant and free school uniform and exercise books among others. In the area of agriculture, Mr. Woyongo said the region through the provision of fertilizers and other farm machinery, is expecting a high increase in crop yield this year. The Information Minister Mr. Tia Akologo who chaired the meeting, entreated participants to use the occasion to make meaningful and constructive suggestions and opinions to help address most of the challenges affecting the various developmental areas of the region. He also urged the public to impart the information and knowledge of government’s policies and programmes aimed at achieving the ‘Better Ghana Agenda to their fellow counterparts who were not present at the meeting. Mr Tia Akologo, the Regional Minister, Mar Woyongo and the Deputy information Minister, Mr Agyenim Boateng answered questions from the media. There was also an exhibition of photographs of development project carried out in all the districts of the region
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