Gov’t to set up specialized health centres through public private partnership
The government is ready to set-up more health specialists institutions through public private partnership to help boost healthcare delivery in the country.
Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Senior Adviser to the President, said the situation was such that the ratio of patients to specialists was poor, with many specialists in the country found mostly in Accra and Kumasi and some few regional capitals, hence the need to accelerate training of more of them.
The Senior Presidential Advisor said it was time to ensure that the services of these specialists were enjoyed by rural forks through the use of highly equipped healthcare mobile vans.
He bemoaned the situation where science students with West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate aggregate seven or eight find it very difficult to pursue medicine, declaring that in doing so the universities were creating scarcity in mist of abundance.
Mr Obeng, who was speaking on Friday at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons’ (GCPS) 10 Anniversary celebration and Annual General and Scientific Meeting in Accra, appealed to the appropriate authorities to reconsider the issue to enable the nation train more physicians for better healthcare delivery.
He said government would gradually establish more medical schools, adding that, each region would be having at least one.
He urged the GCPS to make sure that doctors were equipped with adequate knowledge on modern medicine, especially e-medicine.
Professor Sir George Wireko Brobby, GCPS President paid tribute to former President J. J. Rawlings under whose administration a task force was set-up for the establishment of a Postgraduate Medical College in Ghana.
He said the blue print from the report of the task force became the foundational stone on which GCPS was built.
He also acknowledged the massive financial support former President J. A. Kufour’s administration gave to make the dream of the College a reality.
Prof Brobby said: “We can assure the public that the GCPS will continue to produce specialists and consultants, who knew where to serve, whom to serve and when to serve. We have through our deeds and actions driven the last nail into the coffin of Mr Brain Drain.”
To the new graduants he said: “By dint of hard work, calculated tenacity of purpose, solid determination and ambition made of sterner stuff you have conquered a three-six year tortous course in Medicine, Surgery and have thus justified your inclusion into the College Registry”.
Prof David Ofori-Adjei, GCPS Rector, in his report observed that the College since its inception enrolled 1,018 residents into membership training and 174 in fellowship training.
He said so far a total of 438 had been awarded membership qualification and another 15 fellowship qualification.
Prof Emmanuel Quaye Archampong, GCSP, Foundation Fellow in his anniversary lecture urged the College to rise up to the mandate given to it by the Act establishing it to make health policies for the country.
The celebration which was on the theme: “A decade of medical postgraduate specialists training”, saw the conferring of fellowship awards on Prof Kwaku Danso-Boafo, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and former Minister of Health for his contribution in setting up a task force for the establishment of GCPS.
Others include Prof Rolf Horstman, a German national for his contribution towards global medicine and Prof Aaron Lawson of the University of Ghana for his input in medical research in Ghana.
Some new fellows and new members who had completed their training period were admitted into the College Registry.
Other dignitaries at the function include Madam Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Health, Dr Ken Sagoe, Acting Chairman GCPS, among others.
Source: GNA