Medical and Dental Council signs MoU with Ghanaian counterparts in UK

The Medical and Dental Council (MDC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ghanaian Doctors and Dentists Association in the UK (GDDA-UK) to enable the foreign-based group to support the training of undergraduate and postgraduate doctors and dentists in Ghana.

The agreement is also to facilitate health research collaboration between members of the two groups.

The Registrar of MDC, Dr Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, and the President of GDDA-UK, Dr William Kedjanyi, signed the agreement during the 18th annual health conference of GDDA-UK in London on October 7, 2023.    

The agreement was reached between the two groups after years of discussions that started around 2005.

Dr Pamela Abban Ohene Djan, the Executive Secretary of GDDA-UK who has been instrumental in helping bring the MOU into fruition opened the conference with a warm welcome to the delegates and the international speakers from Ghana.

Benefits

Dr Kedjanyi said the agreement would establish a clear process of registering members of GDDA-UK who desired to support Ghana’s health system by contributing to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate doctors and dentists, including the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS).

He said the support would also reduce the cost of training by 50 per cent and activate a waiver of examination in certain special situations. 
   

Harnessing diasporan resources

The Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana, Dr Banyubala, said harnessing diasporan resources and leveraging technology were at the core of the vision of the council to boost the local training of doctors and dentists at the general duty and specialist levels, ensure quality, safe specialist services and collaborative health research.

He said the signing of the MoU was born from last year’s historic medical and dental training and practice conference by the council as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.

The registrar said the council was committed to decentralising the training of doctors and dentists to suitable regional and municipal or district hospitals as a measure of dealing with issues of inequity in the distribution of doctors and dentists, as well as access to specialist services.

He said a similar agreement signed last year between the council and the Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation of North America had started yielding tangible results.

Dr Banyubala commended the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for starting a postgraduate training in the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, and Afia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Takoradi. 

Commendation 

Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK and Northern Ireland, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, commended both groups for their vision and commitment in coming up with the initiative and thanked members of the GDDA-UK for their willingness to give back to their motherland.

He said the initiative fit into the embassy and the government’s agenda of mobilising Ghanaians in the diaspora for national development.

“I look forward to Ghana becoming a health education and financial services hub that will take advantage of the services of experts in the diaspora,” Mr Owusu-Ankomah added.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie, also affirmed the support of parliament for the initiative.

Also present at the signing ceremony were the President of Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS), Prof. Samuel Debrah; the Rector GCPS, Prof. Richard Adanu; the acting Dean of University of Ghana Dental School, Prof. Sandra Hewlettand, Dr Pamela Abban Ohene Djan, Executive Secretary GDDA-UK and the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye.