He said the MDAs sponsored students who after graduating from medical schools, refused to return and offer their services at facilities within the MDAs to improve the healthcare needs of the people in the Region.

He said Assemblies that failed to sponsor students could not expect those students to return to the area to work after graduation as they struggled on their own to go to school and were not under any obligation to serve in the area.

Mr Adongo made the call at the opening ceremony of a two-day meeting of the 2017 Health Performance Review of the Region, which was held on the theme; “Building Sustainable Partnerships for Strengthening Health Systems to Achieve Universal Health Coverage.”

The meeting attracted health professionals from all thirteen Districts of the Region, officials from the Ministry of Health, and the Brong Ahafo Regional Health Directorate, Municipal and District Chief Executives, religious and traditional leaders, and the media.

Mr Adongo who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Zebilla Constituency, said the lack of specialist doctors at the regional hospital posed a big problem to the people as many could not afford the cost of seeking medical care at bigger hospitals in the cities when they were referred there.

He commended the 33 partners who supported the Region’s service delivery efforts in the year under review and called on them to use the meeting as renewal of their collective commitments to provide good health for the wellbeing of the people.

Dr Winfred Ofosu, the Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, said the Region needed about 120 doctors but presently had 31 doctors, some of who were currently in school pursuing further studies, “so on the ground we have about 25 doctors.”

He said Pusiga, Binduri, Garu Tempane and Builsa South Districts in the Region had no Doctors because they did not have hospitals, “so what is happening is that the neighboring Districts that have District Hospitals serve those populations with conditions that need hospital care.”

Dr Ofosu said the Region lacked Doctors because some of them liked to pursue specialist courses after working for two or three years, while others did not even accept postings to the Region, but preferred to stay in either Accra or Kumasi and worked with private facilities.

The Director observed that the Region had no big private facilities where they could practise for extra income at their leisure time as was done in the urban areas, and noted that it could be a reason for their refusal to accept posting to the Region, and called on the MDAs to design incentive packages to attract especially young Doctors.

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, said within the constraint of the budget, the Ministry in 2017 had continued to fund and provide critical public health services to manage the few emergencies that were encountered, “the quick response to control the N1 H1 virus and the isolated CSM cases during the year are positive for all our health staff.”

He said the Districts were focal points for delivery of almost all foremost health interventions, “we shall therefore continue to support the CHPS compound concept as the surest means of bringing health closer to our teeming and working population, a deliberate policy to staff that level with health workers would be pursued.”

He congratulated the Regional Health Directorate for the hard work and successes chalked in the year under review.