Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says the government is willing to support the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) to boost the local production of doctors and dentists at both the undergraduate and specialist levels to meet the needs of the country.
He made this known at the opening ceremony of the Medical Training and Practice Conference, which marks the 50th Anniversary of the MDC, under the theme: “Reflection on 50 years of Medical Regulation,” which was held in Accra.
According to him: “The World Health Organisation’s data on density of doctors, per ten thousand population from 2011-2019, shows most of our peers are doing far better than Ghana; Nigeria, for example, has a density of 3.8 for doctors and 0.2 for dentists; Gabon 6.8 for doctors, 0.2 for dentists; Kenya has 1.6 for doctors, 0.2 for dentists and South Africa 7.9 doctors and 1.1 for dentists, while Ghana has a figure of 1.1 for doctors and 0.1 for dentists. This situation is not quite unsatisfactory.”
He, therefore, advised the MDC to focus and come out with implementable suggestions on how to creatively boost the local production of doctors and dentists. Dr. Bawumia restated the fact that many students who were qualified and were desirous of becoming doctors and dentists were unable to obtain admissions here in Ghana, on account of inadequate investment in medical and dental training schools.
“The current statistics show that there are only five public and two private universities training doctors and dentists in the country, with low number of students’ intake due to lack of adequate physical infrastructure, equipment, logistics and appropriate faculty,” he added.
Dr. Bawumia was hopeful that the conference would deliberate on the current challenges with medical and dental training and practice at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and “I believe the Council will share some of the details of its experience with the rest of you during the course of this conference. Again, to examine the possibility of reforming and restructuring the training curricula and bring them in line with current trends; taking on board the competencies required of today’s doctors and dentists.”
The Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, in his address, stated that his Ministry facilitated the approval of a World Bank facility in June 2020 to the tune of US$15,267, 464.28. This funding support, the Minister indicated, was to help build the first-ever National Clinical Skills Examination Centre of Excellence, as well as a new Head Office Complex with accommodation facilities for the Council.
“As a Ministry, we are excited and commend the Council for its commitment and foresight for inviting critical stakeholders at this time to reflect on the current challenges with local medical and dental training and practice with the view to forging consensus on actionable solutions to boost local production of doctors and dentists at both undergraduate and specialist levels,” he said.
The Registrar of MDC, Dr. Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, who also addressed the gathering, stated that the Council had made significant and impactful contributions internationally.
“At the continental level, [the] Council is a member of the Management Committee of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) at the global level,” Mr. Banyubala said.
He commended his outfit over the regulated training in seven medical schools including two private schools (Family Health Medical School and Accra College of Medicine), two dental schools and some 13 physician assistant training schools.
