Akim Oda MP Warns Health Minister: Cutting Doctors’ Payroll Won’t Solve Rural Posting Crisis, Urges Calm Engagement
Akim Oda Member of Parliament Alexander Akwasi Acquah has cautioned the Minister for Health against using threats to remove doctors from the government payroll as a means to enforce rural postings, arguing that such an approach will not address the underlying rural healthcare crisis and could drive more young doctors into the private sector.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, February 23, 2026, the NPP MP emphasized the need for dispassionate dialogue and practical incentives rather than coercive measures.
“As the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) rep said, we have to look at it dispassionately,” he stated, referencing recent comments from GMA representatives amid ongoing tensions over the compulsory rural service policy.
Drawing from his experience operating private health facilities, Mr. Acquah warned that young doctors have abundant opportunities outside the public system and are likely to opt for urban private practice 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. “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.”
He highlighted the flexibility offered by urban private facilities—such as the ability to work at multiple sites—compared to the isolation and limited opportunities in rural postings.
“I mean, they can decide to sign on two or three other facilities,” he noted. “But if you push them to the rural facilities where there are no facilities that can offer them an opportunity for a local… which is something that everybody knows that the doctors have.”
The MP also pointed to the cancellation of additional duty allowances as a key factor worsening conditions for doctors assigned outside major cities.
“In an era where additional duty allowance has been cancelled, and what they make there is exactly what… sometimes they have to take money out of their pockets,” he said. “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 beyond all means to find money to buy blood, to do other essential things for the patient.”
While acknowledging the importance of ensuring equitable distribution of doctors across the country, Mr. Acquah objected to the tone and repeated nature of the Minister’s directives.
“This is about the second time the Minister is asking that if they don’t go we’ll cut them off… government payroll,” he remarked. “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.”
The comments come amid heightened friction between the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Medical Association over the implementation of compulsory rural service for newly qualified doctors. The GMA has argued that rural postings must be accompanied by improved incentives, infrastructure, security, and family support, while the Ministry insists on enforcement to address severe shortages in deprived areas.
The Akim Oda MP’s intervention adds a bipartisan voice to calls for constructive engagement, highlighting the risk that heavy-handed approaches could exacerbate the brain drain from public to private healthcare and further widen urban-rural disparities in access to medical services.
