Dr John Koku Awoonor -Williams, the Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, has appealed to the First Lady, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, to help ensure that doctors posted to the Region accepted posting to the area.
He made the appeal when Mrs Mills launched her campaign on Maternal Mortality dubbed, �Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa� (CARMMA) in Bolgatanga on Wednesday.
Dr Awoonor-Williams said out of the seven doctors posted to the Region this year, only two of them had reported and added that this had been going on over the years. �Those who accepted posting to the region in the past are now refusing to accept re-posting because of the modest way of living. There is no problem of accommodation�, he said.
Dr Awoonor-williams said in 2011 the Region recorded 21 maternal deaths of which 16 were from the deprived areas and attributed most of the maternal mortality in the Region to unsafe abortion.
He said there were many quack doctors engaging in unsafe abortion and added �the situation is becoming worse and worse as victims are being brought to the hospital with complications�.
Dr Awoonor-Williams said there had been improvement in other sectors of health delivery and and mentioned some of them as the Community Health Based Planning System, transportation and accommodation.
He called for multi-sector approach to help achieve the set target of Millennium Development Goals, which he noted was getting closer and said the government alone could not accomplish the objectives.
The Municipal and District Chief Executives and the traditional authorities pledged their support to the First Lady�s campaign on CARMMA.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, said there were plans to procure more ambulances for deprived communities and to also to build more roads. Dr Bernard Coquelin, a UNFPA representative, explained that CARMMA was an initiative of Africa Union Commission to curb the continent of high pregnancy related deaths.
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