GHS Boss Proposes Halt on Posting of Health Professionals

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare has proposed that unemployed health professionals be made to look for jobs after school like it is done in other professions.

According to him, this will ensure a fair distribution of health workers across the country.

Speaking at the opening of the annual conference of the Christian Health Association of Ghana in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, Dr. Asare urged the conference to come up with pragmatic measures to address the longstanding challenge of unemployment in the health sector.

“I believe we should stop postings, we should allow every health worker to go and look for a job” he said.

Dr. Asare mentioned that gaps would be declared in various health institutions across the country and “every health worker can go and apply for jobs there and also be granted interviews that would allow them secure jobs.”

He added that the GHS was fighting seriously for financial clearance to come with no names attached to it, in that way, the regions can be asked to do the interviews and employ people in the various regions.

Meanwhile, an officer at the Public Relations Unit of the GHS, Douglas Adu Fokuo has denied these allegations saying, the director general did not in any way state that government will no longer post health workers.

Speaking on Joy FM yesterday, he said “the call that the director general was making was rather for the review of policy guiding postings for all health care professionals in the country and not necessarily for nurses.”

Mr. Fuoko further explained that the reason for this policy review is to ensure equitable distribution of staff.

Making a comparison of the number of doctors, radiographers as well as the hospitals in other regions to that of Greater Accra, he reiterated that Dr. Nsiah was calling for a policy review.

By: Pamela A. Allotey