MORE medical doctors are expected to be deployed to the hinterland regions, as the Ministry of Public Health continues to bridge the gap between health care provided on the coastland and hinterland.This announcement was made by Former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, who indicated that the Public Health System is now equipped with a total of 704 Government Medical Officers (GMOs) and 968 nurses.

Therefore, the Ministry will seek to utilise their human resources efficiently in order to ensure that all regions benefit from proper health care. However, with accommodation for GMOs and basic living conditions in the hinterland regions still a serious issue, the Ministry through the department of Regional Health Services, will collaborate with the Ministry of Communities so that these challenges can be alleviated.

Despite the odds, medical programmes in the hinterland continue to prove useful, with the medical evacuation programme benefiting 255 patients who were accommodated on 212 flights at an approximated cost of $82.3million with the month of December still to be completed, he had stated.

The increase in the number of medical evacuations in 2016 is as a result of the ministry’s position on the transfer of all high risk pregnancies from hinterland regions in an effort to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, said Dr. Norton.

A move which would result in the decrease in medical evacuations is one to deploy specialist doctors to the hinterland regions. As such, the then Minister of Public Health said that all regional hospitals will be staffed by the four basic specialist care services; they will review the human resource gap to have specialist at all regional hospitals; equip and upgrade of district hospitals to deliver the full suite of mandated services; ensure that all regional hospitals have one medical superintendent, and one Administrator/CEO and increase the availability of a national biomedical service provider to effect timely repairs and maintenance to equipment.