‘Disparity in distribution of medical specialists not proper’

Severious Kale-Dery / Daily Graphic / Ghana Dec - 09 - 2013 , 05:34

Participants in a discussion on “A decade of medical postgraduate specialist training in Ghana” have observed and deplored a serious disparity in the distribution of medical specialists in the country.

They said there was high concentration of medical specialists in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital having a chunk of them.

“The three northern regions have the least number of medical specialists with the Upper East Region being the most deprived,” Professor Felix Asante of the ISSR told the gathering at the 10th anniversary public lecture at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS).

He said, for instance, that the Greater Accra Region could boast nine consultants, 205 specialists and 72 senior specialists, while the Upper East had, four specialists and two senior specialists without even a consultant.

Doctor population

On doctor population ratio, Prof. Asante said there had been a significant improvement in that direction for all the regions in the country with the exception of the three regions in the northern sector and attributed it to the continuous persistent refusal of doctors to be posted there.

He said the doctor to population ratio fell from a high of 17,899 individuals to one doctor in 2005 to 10,034 individuals to one doctor in 2011 and attributed it to the increase in the production of doctors and a reduction in migration of doctors to the Western world.

Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons

Professor Asante was happy that the postgraduate intake into the GCPS, including both membership and fellowship, had increased markedly from a total of 78 doctors in 2004 to 202 doctors by 2012, adding that 87 doctors were scheduled to graduate from the GCPS in 2013 in various areas of specialisation.

He said the establishment of the GCPS appeared to have slowed down the medical brain drain in Ghana, as more and more doctors availed themselves of the local opportunities and said the college needed to be supported effectively in order to continue to be a strong incentive for the retention of doctors in the country, apart from helping to staff hospitals with the much needed specialists.

Solutions to emigrations

Professor Asante suggested that in addressing the negative effects of health worker emigration there was the need for better health workforce retention, especially in rural and remote areas.

“There is also the need for a stronger protection and fairer treatment of health workers, who may face difficult and often dangerous working conditions and poor pay,” he added.

Impact of the College

Speaking on the topic, “A decade of postgraduate specialist medical training in Ghana: Impact on the public health, the Omanhene of the Asokore Traditional Area, Nana Susubribi Dr S.K.B. Asante, said the impact of the college on health delivery had been significant, “and the Council Fellows and staff of the college deserve our deepest appreciation”.

He said he was aware of the severe constraint the college faced in health delivery in the rural communities, explaining that formal medicine had to contend with pervasive supervision.

Appreciation

The Provost of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Professor Yao Tettey, who chaired the lecture, was grateful to the planning committee and the resource persons for accepting to present their papers.

He urged fellows of the college to take note of the issues raised so that they could be discussed at various levels for solutions.