Ghana blessed with 452 new medical, dental practitioners: Induction address by Prof. P.K. Nyame

The induction of 452 new doctors into the medical and dental professions in Ghana (at the Accra Conference Centre, February 19, 2022) consisted of graduates from the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Cape Coast, University of Development Studies, University of Health and Allied Sciences, and two private medical schools — Family Health Medical School and Accra College of Medicine.

The total number included 118 graduates from foreign universities who passed the pre-registration examination and duly qualified to be placed on the Register.

In his address, Prof. P.K. Nyame said, “You must never stop learning and be ethical. Practise within the limits of your skills and competence.

“Avoid avarice and thirst for glory, and never at the expense of the reputation of colleagues.

“Be confidential in handling information about patients and clients, and be respectable through your professional appearance and decorum.”
Year 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Medical and Dental Council, under the Medical and Dental Decree, 1972 (NRCD 91).

The registration of practitioners commenced in 1973, with 558 practitioners registered.

Currently, there are 10,143 practitioners on the Active Register made up of permanent (7,349), provisional (2,322), and temporary (18) practitioners.

 New medical and dental practitioners celebrating after being inducted

The day's inductees numbered 454 with two absent.

According to Prof. Nyame, there were a number of practitioners who had not renewed their licences for the year but were practising.

He noted that the planned Golden Jubilee celebrations would showcase progress in administration and organisation in the era of digitalisation; plans for fit-for-purpose headquarters; review of registration procedures; re-examine licensing requirements for skills and expertise in this COVID-19 pandemic era; introduce a Specialist Register; seek Parliamentary support for amendments to the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act (Act 857); and a legislative instrument to effectively operationalise the council's work.

Standards for integrity

Prof. Nyame noted the council’s awareness of the proliferation of unqualified practitioners in Ghana, and that the council's investigative arm was aggressively on the trail of those culprits.

It is the duty of the council to ensure that while quacks are identified and chased out, students entering the medical and dental schools need exposure to high standards in all the relevant disciplines.

He expected students being admitted for medicine and dentistry to be worth the good grades on the certificates they presented.

The Entrance Examination of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) was a useful way in confirming this.

The facilities in the training institutions were carefully monitored by the council to match the intake each year.

The council fully supported the need to train "more doctors" for Ghana.

To achieve this, the council was working with all stakeholders, including the medical and dental schools, the government, and its relevant agencies for a strategy to increase the number of doctors and dentists trained within the country, and effectively curtail the need to send students abroad.

It is desirable to expand existing medical schools, by providing them with the necessary facilities to match the projected increase in intake, and also consider establishing completely new schools.

Prof. Nyame noted that private participation should be encouraged.

However, it should be remembered that the necessary processes for recognition — especially from the Medical and Dental Council — must be satisfied and respected. He advised aspiring medical or dental students to check with the council the accreditation status of the schools they intended to attend.

Professional misconduct

He was concerned that for years the nation was awash with the constant talk of professional misconduct.

He noted, “It is depressing and dampens our national pride. Doctors and dentists are expected to be men and women of integrity.

“High IQ and long hours of work come to naught if, in your practice, you do not ‘preserve the purity of (your) life and (your) art’.”

He cautioned doctors to distance themselves from serious crimes like human trafficking, and adoption trading where new-born babies of the poor end up with childless individuals willing to pay for them.

In the digital age fiddling with documents was dangerous, he cautioned doctors to “Be honest when filling a logbook and recording procedures you have performed or observed.”

“Undeserving sick leave attracts attention from employers. Performing operations without the requisite skill and competence may result in serious consequences, including criminal investigation,” he said.

For him, practitioners who continuously failed to pay their annual licence renewal fees, for no reasonable or justifiable cause, were serial cheats, undeserving of respect.

Citing the recent case of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) agreeing to pay US$ 243.6 million, in the settlement of sexual abuse cases brought by several women against a gynaecologist in their employ, he advised practitioners to “avoid sexual pleasures with patients”.

“It is advisable to have a chaperon or nurse with you, whenever you examine a female patient,” he said.

Noting that society expected professionals of integrity, he advised doctors to follow the Hippocratic Oath: “If (you) keep this oath faithfully, may (you) enjoy your life and practice (your) art, respected by all men and in all times; but if (you) swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be (your) lot."

The writer is the founder of the Lighthouse Group of churches. E-mail: theaol@ymail.com