Koforidua Health workers are to enjoy fee free medical care, Dr /Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Minister of Health, has said. Opening a five- day Fifth National Congress of District Directors of Health Services (DDHS) at Koforidua, she said a circular to this effect together with guidelines, are being circulated. The congress, on the theme “Implementing the five- year plan of work, a challenge for the districts”, is being attended by 110 officers. Dr Brookman-Amissah said the practice of illegal collection of fees are still very rampant in the health institutions and even at the crucial time of the Cerebro -Spinal Meningitis (CSM), fees were being demanded. She warned that the ministry would not hesitate to expose and discipline any health worker caught engaged in those acts, adding that ”the current fee schedule is being revised”. The Minister said with the establishment of the Ghana Health Service, with its attendant improved performances, the new conditions of service would at least make it possible for qualified and trained health workers to remain and work in the country. “Many Ghanaians still do not have access to health services because the quality of our services is generally perceived to be poor, There are wastages in our operation and we have not maximised intra and inter-sectoral linkages with other sectors”.
She stressed the need for them to keep the general public informed on developments in the health sector and also to work closely with their District Chief Executives to ensure that resources allocated to the health sector in the District Assembly Common Fund are utilised for the purpose.
