Kinglsey Aboagye-Gyedu
Deputy Minister of Health, Kinsley Aboagye-Gyedu, has revealed government’s intention to continue posting health professionals, particularly doctors, after their training from health institutions.
Mr Aboagye-Gyedu, who also doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Constituency, was responding to comments made by the Director General of Ghana Service, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, concerning the posting of doctors in the country.
Dr Nisah-Asare was reported to have said that the present bottleneck in ensuring staff at all existing health facilities “simply have to be tackled now and not tomorrow. I’m urging your conference to come out with pragmatic measures to address this long-standing challenge in the health sector, and I believe we should stop posting. We should allow every health worker to go and look for a job.”
However, Mr Aboagye-Gyedu indicated that the Ghana Health Service has no mandate to decide whether to post doctors after school or not.
“The purported comment is his own personal comments and does not represent the position of government or the Ghana Health Service, though the GHS can advise government, they cannot usurp the powers of the ministry,” he stated.
Addressing the Ghana Dental Association during its 27th annual general congress held at Sunyani under the theme: ‘Advancing Oral Health; An unanswered Questions’, the deputy minister acknowledged the fact that a significant percentage of school-going children and the adult population in the country suffer from oral diseases, adding that the proportion is even higher among the adult population.
He lamented the poor attitude of Ghanaians towards oral healthcare in the country and called on stakeholders to do their part diligently while government builds on their commitment by retooling and resource dental facilities in the country.
“The ministry is at the last stage of revising dental health policy in the country to address the problem of lack of budgetary allocation and low priority given to the sector among other challenges facing you,” Mr Aboagye-Gyedu pointed out.
Danielyaodayee@yahoo.com
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani