Leadership of the Ghana Physician Assistant Association (GPAA) has called on members to suspend the renewal of licenses with the Medical and Dental Council (MDC).
According to leadership, MDC keeps describing GPAA members as non-medical practitioners and has put impediments in their way to ensure that they don’t grow.
The group questioned why the GPAA should still be under such a regulator, which does not regard its members and called on the Ministry of Health (MoH) to put plans in place to enable to GPAA get its own regulatory body.
“The Leadership of the GPAA is, by this press conference, directing all its members to suspend the renewal of licences with the MDC for the year 2023,” Secretary of GPAA, Mr Peter Eyram, said at a news conference organized in Accra by the Leadership of GPAA recently.
The aim of the presser was for the GPAA to register its displeasure over the unfair treatment being meted out to it by the Medical and Dental Council.
Detailing why the GPAA does not want the MDC as its regulator, Mr Peter Eyram, indicated that aside describing its members as non-medical practitioners, “members have also witnessed stagnation in terms of career progression coupled with acts of intimidation and suppression by the Leadership of the Administration and Board of MDC”.
He quoted MDC as saying career progression was the sole responsibility of the MOH and not the duty of the regulator, “yet it does career progression for other professional bodies it regulates.”
He again alleged the MDC is trying hard to alter the curriculum for the training of Physician Assistants by removing certain important medical course contents, which hitherto were offered in order to render future Physician Assistant unfit to practice medicine and dentistry hence their quest for their own regulator.
The GPAA Secretary said until their grievances are resolved, no one should blame them for a disruption in healthcare service delivery since the non-renewal of licenses puts them in a position where they cannot practice in the year 2023.
The President of GPAA, Mr Peter Ayamba on his part said “PAs have suffered and are still suffering under this regulator. Today the attempt to suppress and frustrate the PA profession is an attempt to deny the good people of Ghana of quality healthcare.”
He, however, noted that the group will ensure that the narrative is changed so that Ghanaians especially those in the rural communities can have access to good health care.
“Our struggle today is for the good people of Ghana especially the underserved rural communities where the physician assistants work. Ghanaians need to know and stand for their right to quality healthcare.”
