At what age should medical specialists retire?

The Rector of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Prof. David Ofori-Adjei, is concerned that the compulsory retirement age of 60 for medical specialists in public service is taking a toll on the manpower needed by the health sector for specialist training.

He raised this concern in Accra yesterday at the 11th Annual General Scientific meeting of the college.

His argument is that with certain categories in academia and the legal profession, provisions have been made to allow them to retire after more than 60 years.

He mentioned for example Supreme Court and Appeal Court judges who retire at 70 and Chairmen of Regional Tribunals at 65 and thinks medical specialists should be brought into the aforementioned categories.

The problem of inadequate manpower for the health sector is well known. The repercussions of this have sometimes been the lack of quality care and the long queues in front of consulting rooms at our public hospitals, resulting in   some delays in attending to patients. 

The country is currently seeing increases in diseases like hypertension, diabetes and cancers which require specialists to manage. 

The problems of the health sector are compounded by its doctor-to-patient ratio of approximately 1:15,000 which is not acceptable. The World Health Organisation recommends 1:5,000 for Africa. 

The Daily Graphic therefore sees reason in the rector’s concerns. This is because we think that increasing the retirement age will allow the specialists the needed extra time to train more people and share their needed experiences to feed the health sector and thereby bridge some of the gaps in manpower requirement.

This becomes even more important looking at the emerging diseases including those mentioned earlier, which require specialist attention.

It is interesting to observe that  some of the very specialists who have to go home because they have attained the age of 60, move into the private sector to work for many more years.

In some cases, the specialists have been given contracts for particular periods because the law does not allow their retirement age to be extended.

That is why we are of the view that it is necessary to look at a more acceptable way of handling the issue. 

There is definitely a reason for the law requiring workers to retire at 60. Among them is the fact that the old must give way to create employment opportunities for the younger generation. But it is a known fact that the medical profession is in a category that benefits more from the experience of mature practitioners.

Schemes such as this one have been in operation in a number of countries and they have proven to be beneficial for the well-being of the citizens.

Prof. Ofori-Adjei’s suggestion must be taken seriously. Perhaps it is time for a national debate so that other vital areas can be identified to legally revise the retiring age.