Need for more training institutions for our doctors

For as long as diseases and sicknesses remain, there will always be the need for doctors to lead in finding the cure and healing and generally cater for the healthcare needs of people.

Ghana is no exception when it comes to the need for more doctors. As of last year, the doctor-population ratio was one to 10,452, while the nurse-population ratio was one to 1,251, according to the 2012 annual report on the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (2010 – 2013).

Currently, however, only the country’s main teaching hospitals – Korle-Bu, Komfo Anokye, Tamale and Cape Coast Teaching hospitals — the few medical schools at the universities and the Catholic Holy Family Teaching Hospital at Techiman train the country’s doctors.

As if that was not bad enough, aspiring doctors have to bear certain surnames in order to be admitted to the few training institutions across the country, which have very stringent entry requirements that bar many young men and women from entering them.

We are not subscribing to a relaxation in entry requirements that will see to the admission of just anybody to the medical school, since those practising medicine are entrusted with human lives.

There are, however, many brilliant applicants who are turned away on a regular basis due to the lack of facilities to cater for all who apply to the schools of medicine in the various universities.

We believe that it is time for the government to look critically at the facilities for training our doctors and health personnel in general for an upgrade to allow for more intake yearly.

The Daily Graphic is not oblivious of the current impasse between the nation’s public doctors and the government, with the doctor asking for coded conditions of service which involve some amount of funds to be released from the national purse.

Sight must, however, not be lost of the fact that some health facilities in the country still do not have nurses or health staff, let alone a single doctor to serve nearby communities. Indeed, most of such health facilities are manned by nurses and people who would only pass for orderlies.
Ghana will be able to cater for more doctors if systems are made to work. We have some good institutions that are being hindered on a daily basis by much interference from government officials and politicians.

We once again urge the doctors to move away from their entrenched positions, negotiate in good faith and not claim their pound of flesh at all cost. Negotiations with the government must be based on facts and figures and whether it is also able to meet their demands.

We also enjoin the government to be truthful with the doctors, make the dialogue as transparent as possible and give doctors their due as far as the nation’s resources can allow.

Lives lost as a result of the three-week strike cannot be replaced and so all efforts must be made to prevent a recurrence of the strike.
In the past, doctors were held in such a high esteem that individuals went to great lengths to ensure doctors’ comfort. People do still hold doctors in high esteem and this must not be taken for granted.

We urge doctors to look at the plight of people and that of the economy in their negotiations with the government to ensure that never again will our doctors turn their back on the hospitals.