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In an effort to ensure the equitable distribution of health workers throughout the nation, the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons’ faculty, administration, and governing council have commended the Akufo-Addo government for funding the postgraduate training of medical specialists and fellows at the college.
During a visit to the President on Monday, October 23, 2023, representatives from the college, led by Professors Richard Adanu, the college’s rector, and Yaw Adu Gyamfi, the chairman of the college, acknowledged the significant benefits of funding from the National Health Insurance Scheme and the Scholarship Secretariat.
At the Jubilee House, representatives from the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons briefed the President on the events planned to commemorate the college’s 20 years of existence.
In a presentation on the College’s role in national development and future growth, its rector, Professor Richard Adanu, noted that since the College’s establishing in 2003, it has “graduated a total of almost 1700 Basic General Specialists across about 16 different fields of study in medicine and surgery.”
He pointed out that, even after the Basic Specialist training, they come in again for at least another two-years training to become Advanced Specialists also referred to as Fellows of the college and added that, from three Fellows graduating in 2010, the college has now successfully churned out 200 fellows in the country.
“One of the reasons why the college was set up was because of the slow production of medical specialists in the country and over the past twenty years, the rate of production is definitely much higher than it was before the college was set-up. So, in that sense, the college has been successful.”
He did, however, note that despite a slight increase in the total number of specialists per population over the past 20 years, the county is still falling short of the required level, making the government’s scholarship program a crucial component of the college’s larger expansion plan.
“Currently, we have about 1400 doctors-in-training in different parts of the country, and the training occurs mainly in seven hospitals and that is a thing that we are not very happy about because, when you think of the number of hospitals in this country, and we are only doing specialist training in seven of them, then we have some way to go,” he indicated.
Continuing, he disclosed that, “this is why, we have set ourselves the target of having one major training centre for fellowship training, that is the training of the Advanced Specialists in each of the previous ten geographic regions, so that in two years from now, we will be able to have fellowship training at some level in each of those regions.”
In addition to these, the college intends to do membership training in at least five of the regional hospitals by 2026, to add up to the existing seven centres across the country, with a projection to extend it to all regional hospitals by 2030, he said.
Whilst this is being worked on, Professor Adanu pointed out that, the college begun Fellowship training at Holy Family Hospital, Techiman in July this year, and will begin same at Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in Takoradi and the Eastern Regional Hospital, in Koforidua, by January 2024.
“All of these is to service the need for all doctors graduating from medical school to specialize as it is in high income countries, and to have enough specialists produced to staff the hospitals being built under the Agenda 111 project. “
President Akufo-Addo congratulated the college on the achievement of the twenty-year milestone and assured them of the utmost commitment of his government to ensure that these essential targets are met, saying, “it is the responsibility of government to put a stronger shoulder as possible to the wheel of progress in allowing you to be able to carry out these important responsibilities more efficiently and more effectively.”
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
