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The Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Kofi Issah, has taken a swipe at health workers, particularly the nurses who exhibit unfriendly behaviours towards patients who visit the various health facilities in the region for treatment.

His criticism comes on the back of several complaints registered by some stakeholders, including chiefs, Assemblymen and other opinion leaders regarding the despicable attitudes of some health practitioners at the Upper East Regional Hospital, formerly, Bolgatanga Regional Hospital.

Dr. Issah has, therefore, described as unprofessional and bizarre the lacklustre behaviours of the health workers and hinted many heads would roll if they persisted the "uncaring" act.

He said the issue had not only worsened the health conditions of patients, but had put the image of the Ghana Health Service, GHS, into disrepute and also reversed the successes chalked up by the service.

Dr. Issah made this known when he took his turn to address participants at the 2016 half-year performance review programme in Bolgatanga of the Upper East Region.

He, thus, asked the Municipal and District Health Directors to recommend without any fear or favour, the punishment that should be meted out to the bad nuts in the health service, adding, "Bolgatanga Regional Hospital has been in the news of late because of the bad attitudes of some workers and a number of activities agreed with the management for improvement in customer relations have gone unimplemented".

He disclosed his outfit was close to institute award schemes to ensure that, any staff who excelled at the GHS was awarded in recognition of his or her enormous contributions to quality health delivery.

Dr. Issah stressed despite the negative attitudes of some staff towards the sick and other peculiar challenges bedevilling health centres, clinics, CHPS compunds and hospitals, the region had made giant strides in dealing with diseases that emerged in the first-half of the year.

He said neonatal, infant and maternal mortalities had witnessed a considerable reduction, stressing " through our collective efforts, no epidemic of cholera has been recorded this year and an outbreak of of CSM in January, February was quickly brought under control".

He attributed the success story to the unrelenting support of institutions and philanthropic organisations, including the Municipal and District Assemblies, UNICEF, Nursing and Mid-wifery
Council and a host of others.

"Delays in reimbursements by the NHIA has not deterred us from providing much needed services to our communities. UNICEF continues to be our main source of funding for health and nutrition services in the region", Dr. Issah acknowledged.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Albert Abongo, indicated government was committed to the health plight of the people in the region and the country at large, hence it would continue to construct more CHPS compounds to bring health support to the doorsteps of the people.

He further said the Mahama and his National Democratic Congress, NDC-led government had constructed about 140 CHPS compounds in the region, adding the government was also on the move to extend electricity, water and roads to the various CHPS compounds in the region.

The theme for the forum was dubbed:"Harnessing Human Resources for Effective Leadership and Service Delivery with Focus on Newborns and Sub-District Health Systems".