An official of the Association of Evangelicals of Liberia (AEL) has called on government to strive to meet the needs of the health workers and better take serious the needs of medical professionals and all health workers for the sake of fairness, lasting peace and development.

Rev. James T. Cooper I, Financial Manager of AEL, wants government and the private health sector to increase the incentives of health practitioners, and improve the quality of health facilities by providing needed equipment and qualified health workers into health centers.

Cooper who is also Assistant Pastor of the Maranatha Apostolic Pentecostal Church on Sinkor made the call last Sunday in a speech delivered at the 9th graduation exercises of the Leomor V. School of Health, located in Morris' Farm Community in Paynesville, outside Monrovia.

. He said these undertakings would enable government to halt spending tax payers' money to send official oversea for medical attention.

He said such action would enable government to monitor activities of all health practitioners in their communities, clinics, health centers or hospitals with the intent to weed out the bad apples.

He also wants a special court be established to prosecute reckless physicians, nurses and medical doctors and other medical or health workers in the country.

Cooper also wants government to continue the decentralization of health training facilities to better prepare more health practitioners so as to reverse a 2007 statistics which report indicates one health worker to 33, 500 persons in the population.

According to a release signed by the Advocacy and Communication Officer of AEL. Mr. D. Sonpon Weah II, Cooper spoke on the theme, "The ROLE OF HEALTH PRACTITIONERS IN THE NATION BUILDING PROCESS" during which time he expressed believes that the teaching, legal, the clergy and medical professions require the huge supports and special attention of government and its partners because these professions are noble among others.

"You may lie to your tailor, technician, mechanics etc but please not to those people in the four noble professions. If the teacher must prepare you for the future, then you need to be honest; if a lawyer must plead your case, you need to give him/her all the facts; if a clergy must pray and counsel you, you need to genuinely confess your fault and if you want to get the right treatment in order to stay health and alive, you need to say it to your doctor as it is," averred Cooper.

Rev. Cooper stressed the importance for government and its international partners to give urgent priority to the health sector during this ongoing reconstruction and revitalization of basic facilities and social services in the country.