667 Physician assistants inducted into Medical and Dental Council
A total of 667 qualified physician assistants (PAs) and certified registered anaesthetists have been inducted into the Medical and Dental Council (MDC).
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The inductees were drawn from 17 health training institutions in the country — School of Anaesthesia, Ridge Accra; School of Anaesthesia, 37 Military Hospital; University for Development Studies, Tamale; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi; University for Health and Allied Sciences, Ho; School School of Anaesthesia, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, and the Pentecost University, Accra.
The rest are the University of Cape Coast Physician Assistantship Programme, Cape Coast; Narh-Bita College, Tema; College of Health And Wellbeing, Kintampo; College of Health, Yamfo; Central University, Tema; Presbyterian University, Agogo; Garden City University College, Kumasi; Radford University College, Accra; Anglican University College of Technology, Nkoranza, and Princefield College and Research, Ho.
They were taken through the Physician Assistants Oath by the Chairman of the MDC, Prof. Paul K. Nyame, and the National Pledge by the Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Oko Boye.
Advice
The minister advised the inductees to uphold the highest standard of professionalism, empathy and respect in their daily practice.
He said they must also be guided by their scope of practice — medical, oral health and anaesthesia — to enhance patient care and safety.
The minister further urged them to respect the rules of the profession and work in a healthy eco-system, adding that they should respect all persons they came across at their respective workplaces.
Concerns
The Registrar of the MDC, Dr Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, said the council was increasingly concerned about the declining standards of training at some physician assistant schools, which, he said, directly impacted the safety and quality of care provided by their products.
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Dr Banyubala said this was evident in the progressively poor performance during licentiate examinations and monitoring and inspection exercises.
“As the regulatory body, we strongly urge the ministry to conduct a needs assessment to determine the appropriate number of physician assistants required to deliver optimal healthcare services at the sub-district level.
“In line with an earlier general consensus, and considering recent decline in training quality and the current number of PAs trained, the council wishes to revisit discussions on restricting the entry requirement for the programme to a post-basic qualification only,” he said.
The council also recommended that the ministry implement the consensus reached in August, 2022, where interested and qualified PAs must be prioritised for training as doctors or dentists through a graduate entry medical programme to offer them another opportunity for career conversion and progression.