The Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA) has called on all relevant stakeholders to effectively play their role in establishing a career progression for physician assistants in the country.
President of the Association, Emmanuel Yaw Appiah said although the physician assistantship profession has been in existence for a long time there are no steps one can take to improve upon one’s skills as a physician assistant after obtaining a first degree in school.
“We’ve realized that there is no clear-cut career progression for the physician assistant in Ghana. The profession has been here for over sixty years so when we are talking about it critically, it should be on pension but then we don’t have a career progression.”
He added that “we also want our career to be protected so that no one can play with the career. Moreover, the whole world is currently looking at bringing quality health to the doorstep of everybody and so if you have a physician assistant who doesn’t know much about health how will that person be able to work effectively. That is why it is very good that we get both career progression and protection so that we can also help in the attainment of universal health coverage.”
He was speaking exclusively to the media on the sidelines during the opening session of the Association’s 18th Annual General Conference.
He further called on the government to address the employment challenges facing physician assistants in the country adding that there are a lot of qualified physician assistants who need financial clearance and immediate employment.
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Mr. Appiah also appealed for privately owned health facilities managed by physician assistants to be credentialed for National Health Insurance to allow people with the NHIS to have access to their facilities.
The four-day conference which is held in Cape Coast is on the theme, “Career Progression and Protection for the Physician Assistant: Your Role, My Role, Our Role in the Attainment of Universal Health Coverage.”
Source: Rosemond Asmah/ATLFMNEWS
