Bolgatanga: The Parliamentary Select Committee on Health has called on the government to immediately address the shortage of staff at the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga. The committee, after touring critical departments of the hospital including the Out-Patient Department, Accident and Emergency Unit, and the Paediatric Department, observed that only a few staff members, especially nurses, managed the wards with an overwhelming number of patients.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Regional Hospital has battled with skeletal staff over the years, compelling them to issue a statement in December 2024 to draw stakeholders’ attention to the situation. Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane, Chairman of the Committee, noted that “the problem of staffing is number one, and government needs to do something about it.” The committee’s visit was part of its working agenda to interact with management and staff to ensure patients receive quality healthcare services.
Dr. Nawaane, who is a Member of Parliament for the Nabdam Constituency in the Upper East Region, emphasized the need for the government to add Bolgatanga to the list of deprived areas that urgently need assistance. “We need staff in this area, and the financial clearance can be discriminated in such a way that people who want to come to areas like Bolgatanga, should have their financial clearance a bit early,” he stated.
He also highlighted that the hospital, a major referral facility for the region, had only one radiographer and one gynaecology specialist, whereas it needed six to operate optimally. “Our women are suffering. This is the state that the government of the NDC has inherited, but governance is a continuous process, and we should take steps to ensure that we solve some of these problems,” Dr. Nawaane said.
Dr. Aiden Suntaa Saanwie, the Medical Director of the hospital, reiterated the need for more staff for continuous quality service delivery. He mentioned that the hospital received some equipment without a biomedical engineer to maintain them, leading to reliance on repairers outside the region, which sometimes worsened the problems. Dr. Saanwie also raised concerns about accommodation for doctors and nurses as part of the challenges faced by the hospital.