Doctors reluctant to work in the Northern region

The Northern regional directorate has expressed concerns over the reluctance of medical doctors to work in health facilities in the region.

The Regional Deputy Director of Health, Dr John Abayiri revealed that doctors who attended the medical school of the University of Development studies situated in Tamale, capital of the Northern region are unwilling to practice their profession there. 

Dr Abayiri and the health directorate are requesting for a reversal of this situation as it renders the Region a great disadvantage.

"The newly-qualified doctors were given the opportunity to choose the region they'd like to be posted to. And it happened that no doctor chose the Northern Region. The most shocking aspect of this is that even doctors who were trained at the University of Development Studies here in the Northern Region refused to choose to work here.", he complained.

Doctor-patient ratio in the Northern Region

The doctor-patient ratio in the Northern region has witnessed a marginal increase over the past years. In 2015, the ratio increased from one doctor per 87,000 patients to one doctor per 68,000 patients.

Though several policies and schemes have been implemented in the past to improve recruitment and retention of health workforce to rural areas in Ghana, the uptake of health workers is still low in rural communities, particularly in the three northern regions of Ghana.

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