Abubakari Abdallah, former North East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), is urging local doctors working outside the region to come back and serve.

He made the call on Tuesday (24 March 2026) at the 2025 annual health sector performance review meeting in Nalerigu, highlighting the need to improve healthcare in the North East Region, especially with some doctors refusing postings there.

“I am also using this forum to make a passionate appeal to medical doctors and other critical staff who are natives of the North East Region to priorize and seek for transfer to the region as part of their social responsibilities to their mother region,” he said.

The meeting theme was “Advancing universal health coverage through innovation, accountability, and 24-hour quality health services.”

Dr Abubakari emphasized that returning health professionals would boost healthcare delivery and urge native health workers to accept postings to the region, including remote areas.

“You have to help your mother region. You came here, you have relatives here, so for two years, you can decide to take a transfer,” he added.

He also urged native medical doctors and other health professionals to accept postings to any part of the region, including remote areas to ameliorate healthcare delivery across the region.

“I am reliably informed that, which is not new to me, it is due to the refusal of newly recruited health staff and accepting postings to some districts in the region apart from the West and the East Mamprusi Municipality.”
“This is sad, and I therefore want to add my voice to that of the regional director to use this opportunity to make a passionate appeal to our brothers and sisters who are natives of the region to accept postings to any part of the region to ensure equity and real 24-hour quality health service for the people.”

The meeting brought together district health directors, doctors, health promotion officers, institutional heads, chiefs, security agencies, the media, and other stakeholders from across the six districts of the region.

Reporting by Dokurugu Alhassan for Asaase News, North East Region