The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has challenged the medical and dental council to proffer a creative strategy to boost the numbers of dentists and doctors locally.
His challenge was in response to the chairman of the Medical and Dental Council, Prof. Paul Kwame Nyame who indicated that the current doctor-to-patient ratio stood at 1:3000 though it was below the World Health Organisation’s standard ratio of 1:1000.
According to Prof. Nyame, many qualified students are unable to gain admission into medical schools in the country due to limited places forcing some of them to go abroad.
He was speaking at the 50th Anniversary Celebrations and Conference of the Medical and Dental Council in Accra.
He said the monies spent for medical training of Ghanaians abroad could be invested in new medical schools in Ghana to train more doctors domestically.
But Vice President Dr. Bawumia said the council should devise a workable solution to the gap in the numerical strength of medical and dental practitioners in the country.
He bemoaned 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 in their training
The Vice President also expressed concerns about some health care professionals who abuse substances or work under the influence of substances including chronic alcoholism or suffer from infirmities of the mind.
To this end, Dr. Bawamia indicated saying government is delighted that a key focus of the reflections from the conference will be implementable suggestions on how to creatively boost the local production of doctors and dentists at both the undergraduate and the specialists level to meet the needs of the country.
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Source: ATLFMNEWS
