Hon. Stephen Yakubu, the Upper East Regional Minister says a total of 17 Medical Doctors have expressed interest to work in the Upper East Region.
The Doctors, who would be posted to various health facilities across the Region, were expected to undergo orientation and other formal procedures on December 21, 2022 to enable them start work immediately.
The achievement was as a result of combined efforts by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and the Regional Health Directorate to beef-up the Doctor-patient ratio in the Region after several attempts to get Doctors to improve health service delivery in the Region yielded no results.
Hon. Yakubu was speaking at the second RCC meeting for the year 2022 in fulfilment of Article 255 of the 1992 Constitution under section 191(1) of the Local Governance Act 2016(Act 936).
He urged all 15 Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) to provide accommodation for the Doctors and motivate them to give off their best to the people of the region.
“Our Assemblies would have to liaise with their respective Health Directorates to provide them with basic accommodation and other logistics to encourage them to stay and provide quality health services to our people,” he said.
The Minister reminded the MDAs on the need to sponsor medical students in their jurisdictions and bond them so they could return and serve the respective Municipalities and Districts.
He further advised managements of public facilities, especially health and educational institutions to endeavour to demarcate their land boundaries to avoid issues of encroachments and litigations.
On the issue of security in the Region, the Minister, who is the Chairman of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), said the region had been relatively calm despite some few pockets of violence in some parts.
He said REGSEC would not relent on its efforts to ensure a totally peaceful Region, adding that REGSEC was keen on threats of violent extremists from the Sahel Region.
“See something, Say Something,” the REGSEC Chair told stakeholders at the meeting.