The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, says government is keen on improving the health care system of the country.
Among other things, Dr. Bawumia stated that government is improving the National Health Insurance Scheme to allow for the service to include childhood cancer.
He says medical and dental professionals who are trained outside the country are unable to practise in Ghana, as many lack basic skills.
“Unfortunately, over the years, results from Medical and Dental Council’s Registration Examinations for these foreign-trained practitioners wishing to permanently practice here have shown clearly that most of them lack basic knowledge and competencies to practice safely in Ghana.”
He further indicated that government is disturbed by the seeming upsurge of non-compliance to the code of ethics by the professionals of the council.
“The Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Adddo-led government is worried about the increasing numbers of complaints about allegations of clinical negligence, poor professional attitude and conduct, inhumane and degrading treatment of patients and some practitioners who provide services outside their areas of competency of their training.”
He however praised the Council for stamping its feet to ensure discipline.
“We commend the Council for being proactive in these matters, as I understand some policy documents on the specialist register as well as the scope of practice for physician assistants were recently launched to address some of these issues of concern.”
Speaking at 50th Anniversary of the Medical and Dental Council Training Conference, the Vice President assured of government’s commitment to improving the health sector.
“We as a government, have a keen interest in improving upon access to health care in Ghana. The Agenda 111 project, under which the government of H.E President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo is building 101 district hospitals, 6 regional hospitals, 4 psychiatric hospitals in Ghana to boost the provision of healthcare infrastructure and ease accessibility to healthcare.”