President of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Frank Serebour
The President of the Ghana Medical Association, (GMA) Dr Frank Serebour, has disclosed that medical doctors working at Bawku are grappling with extreme emotional stress, fear of being attacked and stress leading to widespread absenteeism.
Speaking in a recent interview on JoyNews, he noted that the situation had drastically affected healthcare delivery in the area.
“The doctors work under extreme emotional stress and fear. If you speak to them, you realise that most of them are not themselves and they will tell you that their output has really gone down. So, what is happening is that for some of them, even going to work is a problem.
“Absenteeism is something that is very much rife and a few of them have decided to leave. So, we have some who have left, and they are currently in Accra, in Kumasi and they are refusing to go back. What is also happening is that there are some of them who are in administrative positions, and they are unable to enforce any discipline,” he remarked.
Dr Serebour cited instances where some hospital administrators seeking to enforce discipline were targeted.
“If a worker doesn’t come to work and you decide that you even want to take this priority action against the worker, the next day, your photograph is plastered all over and you are threatened that if you don’t take care, you’ll be the next target. We’ve had doctors whose homes have been raided and riddled with bullets and so they have to seek police protection.
“In the past, Bawku used to be one of the places where regardless of even the issues doctors were accepting postings, but recently nobody’s agreeing to accept any postings,” he remarked.
The president of GMA further disclosed that some medical doctors had fled the town due to the ongoing conflict.
“As of last month, we have two doctors who have left, one is now in Accra. At the moment he is jobless because we’ve not been able to secure posting for him at the moment.
“Some have decided to move their families away whilst they are still there delivering service,” he added.
The protracted conflict in the area has claimed several lives, threatening socio-economic development in the Upper East Region.
JKB/AE
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