Where are the doctors?
Asks Eunice Menka(AMMREN Ghana Chapter)
For malaria patients in the Upper East Region waiting patiently in queues when they seek treatment at the hospitals has become the order of the day. The region is battling with an acute shortage of doctors.
Health facilities in the Upper East Region are struggling because there are few doctors to go round. For instance there is only one doctor at the Sandema District hospital to serve the community.
Things are no better at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, a referral facility, which has only three doctors.
Two additional doctors have, meanwhile, been brought in on locum or as temporary stand-ins to help at the regional hospital.
Dr James Sarkordie, Medical Superintendent at the Sandema District Hospital is the only doctor on hand to attend to Out-Patients’ Department cases, patients on admission, 0emergencies and administrative work.
Hospital records indicate that between January and September this year, Dr Sarkordie had handled about 250 major operations including caesarean sections.
These came to light during a tour of the facility by journalists from the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN0, who were in the region to assess the health status of the people, with particular attention to malaria, following the floods, which hit the region.
Dr Sarkodie who was transferred from the regional hospital after serving five years over there, has been with the Sandema District Hospital for the past two years.
On the disease situation in the hospital, he said malaria was the number one cause of OPD cases with over 3000 cases of malaria being recorded out of 9,944 cases between January and June.
Dr Sarkordie said between July and September this year, out of 7,259 cases, malaria cases took 2,751.
At the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, Mr Edward Kaba the Hospital Administrator, said there was a lot of pressure on the facility following the floods, with malaria being the number one cause of OPD attendance.
He said the hospital now had five doctors and 86 nurses and that ideally, the facility needed about 20 doctors and 180 nurses to serve.
The Navrongo Health Research Centre in the Upper East Region is undertaking a study aimed at identifying the genes in individuals that protect them against malaria.
The collaborative study, known as the Malaria Genome Epidemiology Network, is made up of a global consortium comprising 12 institutions in malaria endemic countries across the globe and is led by researchers from the Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, The Gambia, Papua New Guinea and Mali are among countries taking part in research, which would assist in the development of malaria vaccines.
About 180 families in the Kassena-Nankana district in the Upper East Region are to participate in the research.
Mr Lucas Amengo-Etego, a Research Fellow at the Navrongo Health Research Centre told journalists from the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN), who were on a tour of the centre, that genes have a lot to do with the control of malaria.
He said some people were more susceptible to the disease than others because individuals respond differently to infections from the malaria parasite.
The journalists were in the Upper East and Northern Regions to assess the health status of the population, with particular attention to malaria, following the floods which hit the northern parts of the country.
The Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance, (MCTA) an African-led institution established to build capacity in the fight against malaria sponsored the trip.
MCTA is currently leading a research into the RTS,S (rpt RTS,S) malaria vaccine in nine African countries, including Ghana.
Scientists involved in the research have targeted 2011 for the introduction of the vaccine for use in Ghana and across Africa.
