The people of the Upper West Region are appealing to the Ghana Medical Association to encourage its members to accept postings to the region where doctor-patient ratio has been awful.

According to the Regional Minister Alhaji Alhassan Sulemana, the few doctors who accept postings to the region do not stay for long; a situation he observed was affecting healthcare delivery.

The Region, which is the youngest in the country, he said, has over the years lagged behind, as it has not been able to enjoy the services of “qualified medical practitioners, especially medical doctors”.

“Most medical doctors refuse postings to the Region. Many of those who accept [postings] hardly stay for long,” he said in a speech read on his behalf at the 60thanniversary lecture of the Ghana Medical Association at Jirapa.

Currently, the entire region has a total of 58 doctors and the doctor to patient ratio has been pegged at 1:14,310. The Minister described as unfortunate, the trend, which he said is not limited to the health profession but other areas, especially so when the people are made to suffer the consequences by the virtue of their location.

Alhaji Sulemana said the new Upper West Regional Hospital is almost completed and will require various categories of medical personnel to man it.

He has thus urged the GMA to encourage its members to accept postings to the Region.

He pledged the Regional Coordinating Council’s commitment to working closely with the Regional Health Directorate to facilitate opportunities to encourage doctors to accept postings to the Region.

The lecture was on the theme “healthcare financing in Ghana, 60 years on” and dwelt on the challenges of providing equitable and affordable healthcare delivery in the country.

The CEO of the NHIA recommended the incremental universal healthcare as the best to implement and therefore called of on the public to embrace it.