During a recent visit to the Central Region, the Committee identified key issues, including staff shortages, poor facility conditions, and ipoor maintenance of health facilities.

"A significant number of doctors are unemployed, while some hospitals face severe staff shortages," Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane, the Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament, said.
He made the remarks when the members of the Committee paid a courtesy call to the Central Regional Minister, in Cape Coast.

The visit was also a mop-up exercise of earlier oversight visits to health facilities in the country by the Committee. Dr. Nawaane noted that some hospitals, like the Baptist Health Center, had a high patient load but insufficient staff. To address this, he proposed offering incentives or financial clearance to doctors who agreed to work in underserved areas.

He said: "As the Committee compiles its report, stakeholders are hopeful that our efforts will lead to improved healthcare services and better outcomes for patients.

"We should be able to pick some of them and see what we can do... We have to think aloud as a nation... to find a way of settling the issues."

Mr. Ekow Eduamaoh Panyin Okyere, the Central Regional Minister, highlighted the poor state of healthcare facilities, citing the teaching hospital's improvised accommodations and overwhelmed services.

"The maintenance culture is not there. You look at their OPD attendance, which is very high; admissions, which are very high; surgeries, which are very high... What is the corresponding revenue? And what is happening to the revenue sector? he asked.