Upper West: Hospital staff demonstrate against appointment of medical director

Staff at the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa Wednesday laid down their tools to demonstrate against the appointment of a new medical director, Dr Barnabas Gandau to the facility.

According to the staff, they were disappointed in the Ghana Health Service Council for overlooking Dr Chris Fofie who had served the hospital and for that matter the region for almost 10 years.

According to them, although they held nothing against Dr Gandau, they believed Dr Fofie deserved the position for his “dedicated and selfless service” to the region.

Some of the demonstrators who spoke to Graphic Online said Dr Fofie deserved the vacant position because he had demonstrated true commitment and love for the region and the hospital.

They said the issue had nothing to do with the competence or otherwise of Dr Gandau, but had everything to do with Dr Fofie's "remarkable sense of patriotism".

Dr Fofie who hails from the Brong Ahafo Region, according to sources, was the only one among 10 doctors to have accepted his posting to the Upper West Region in 2007, and thereafter, several doctors, including natives, have turned down postings to the region, often complaining about the working environment and lack of working tools as demotivation.