117 Medical, dental officers inducted
A total of 117 newly qualified medical and dental officers have been inducted into the profession.
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The inductees were from the University of Ghana Medical School, the University of Ghana Dental School, the University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences, and foreign-trained doctors, who passed the council's licensure examination.
This was after they had completed a prescribed and approved academic and practical training conducted by the Medical and Dental Council (MDC).
By their induction and swearing of professional oath, they were required to sign a provisional registration certificate to undergo a mandatory Housemanship.
The Board Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council, Prof. Paul Kwame Nyame, administered the oath of the Medical and Dental profession to the officers at the White Coat event in Accra.
Commendation
The Minister of Health, in a speech read on his behalf by one of his deputies, Alhaji Mahama Asei Seini, congratulated the inductees on the feat.
“The 117 newly qualified doctors and dentists will augment the current resource strength of about 11,000 doctors and dentists serving in various parts of the country,” he said.
Alhaji Seini also commended the MDC for the constant upgrading of professionals, including organising a new format for registered examination, also known as objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for foreign trained medical and dental practitioners in their recent examination.
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The deputy minister expressed the government commitment to ensure that citizens had access to quality healthcare services.
He urged the inductees to ensure the highest standards of practice, adding “you should be ready to serve in rural areas; although there are challenges, be ready to learn”.
"Any keen follower of the healthcare sector would have noticed recent media reportage claiming professional negligence, improper conduct and unethical behaviour by healthcare professionals,” Alhaji Seini added.
Concerns
Prof. Nyame, in a speech read on his behalf, expressed concern over migration of health workers abroad, adding “our practitioners are forced to migrate for reasons such as further training, family ties and most importantly, financial”.
“It is very worrying to see our qualified trained doctors and physicians leaving to serve in other jurisdictions. It, therefore, behoves us, as a nation, to take urgent steps to address this problem to protect our fragile health system”, he said.
Prof. Nyame cautioned the inductees against activities that were not permitted by the law, saying “it is illegal to do ‘locum’ or sign medical certificates or excuse duty for people”.
“I want to remind you again to keep updating your knowledge because the field of medicine and dentistry is evolving very rapidly,” Prof. Nyame added.