Post-graduate medical education investment will stem attrition — Speakers
Speakers at a public lecture organised by the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons have called for investment in the country’s healthcare system, particularly in post-graduate medical education and health infrastructure, to retain medical workers.
They explained that where the country had reached, if it prioritised funding in that sector, it could go a long way to help the country’s healthcare system function better.
They have to this end also called for strategic and sustainable funding models, including public-private partnerships with such institutions.
The speakers were the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Lister Hospital and Fertility Centre, Dr Edem Hiadzi; a Senior Fulbright Scholar of the US Institute of Peace, Professor Kwamina Panford and the CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr Victor Bampoe, who was represented by the Deputy Chief of Operations of the NHIA, Dr Senanu Dzokoto.
They were speaking at the College President’s third public lecture on the theme: “Building a resilient healthcare system that works for all”.
The public lecture is a means by which the college carries out its advocacy role on healthcare issues of national interest.
Dr Hiadzi said it was important to institutionalise post-graduate medical education funding and integrate it into the national workforce strategies.
He said the next step was to ensure specialist absorption and create pathways for retaining the specialists that the country would train, so that they did not find their way out of the country.
To achieve this, he called for incentive programmes such as career advancement and staff wellness initiatives that would encourage specialist medical workers to stay on.
Skilled healthcare professionals
Prof. Panford highlighted the fact that Ghana was in dire need of highly trained, skilled doctors, nurses, lab technologists and medics.
He said it had been observed that Ghana was way behind in terms of medical technology that had made advancements in health care, and cited the use of robotics in surgery as an example.
He said the rhetoric that Ghana was a poor country, which had been used as justification against the lack of appropriate healthcare infrastructure in the country, was very wrong.
Citing examples, he said cocoa gave the country $2 billion, and the country was also among the top countries in the world that produced gold; therefore, it could not claim to say it was poor.
Dr Dzokoto said despite the progress made in the health insurance coverage, the country still had a long way to go in terms of depth of coverage.
Currently, he said the scheme had registered 56 per cent of people in the country.
The President of the college, Prof. Samuel Debrah, said the increasing growth in population, medical content and knowledge and the concomitant rapid rise in innovation and technological solutions in health care, including diagnosis and treatments, meant the country had to produce more health personnel with varied skills.
While this cost money and the country was trying hard to stay still, he said richer countries were pulling ahead with newer technologies such as AI, and the country could not remain still.
A representative of the Ministry of Health, Dr Ernest Konadu Asiedu, said in the fields of global health risks, economic shocks, and demographic changes, the call to build a resilient healthcare system was essential.
He said a resilient healthcare system retains and empowers the health workforce, and adapts to the innovations and change, without losing any core values, practices, affordability and quality.
