The Akim Oda MP, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, has cautioned the Health Minister that threatening to cut doctors off the government payroll will not solve the deepening rural healthcare crisis.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, he urged authorities to approach the matter with calm engagement rather than force.

“As the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) rep said, we have to look at it dispassionately,” he stated.

Drawing from his experience as an operator of private health facilities, the MP warned that young doctors have multiple options and can easily leave the public system if not properly engaged.

“You know, I operate private facilities, and I can tell you, there are a lot of offers for some of these young doctors,” he said.

He cautioned that mishandling the situation would only drive them into the private sector, particularly in urban centres.

“And so if you do not handle them well and engage them and find means of getting them into the public facilities, it becomes easier for the private sector to absorb them.

"It becomes easier for the private sector in the urban centres to absorb them, and that will give them a lot of other advantages.”

According to him, urban-based private facilities offer flexibility that rural postings cannot match.

“I mean, they can decide to sign on two or three other facilities,” he noted.

By contrast, he said, pushing doctors to rural areas where there are limited opportunities and support structures makes the postings unattractive.

“But if you push them to the rural facilities where there are no facilities that can offer them an opportunity for a local, you know, which is something that everybody knows that the doctors have,” he said.

He also pointed to the cancellation of additional duty allowances, arguing that it has worsened conditions for doctors posted outside major cities.

“In an era where additional duty, our allowance has been cancelled, and what they make there is exactly what, and you know, if you engage the doctors, some will tell you, sometimes they have to take money out of their pockets,” he said.

The MP revealed that some doctors personally fund critical patient services due to shortages.

“You know, to pay for services for patients. They are not making any extra money in the places you have put them, but they do because they want to take care of our folks, they have to go, I mean, beyond all means, to find money to buy blood, to do other essential things for the patient.”

While acknowledging the need for dialogue, he objected to what he described as the tone of the Minister’s directive.

“So I think it’s a very good conversation we are having, but it doesn’t have to come with the kind of force that is associated with the minister’s command,” he stressed.

He noted that this was not the first time the Minister had issued such a warning.

“I mean, this is about the second time the Minister is asking that if they don’t go we’ll cut them off. Yeah, government payroll. I mean, just to be hypothetical.”