A total of 2,841 newly qualified allied health graduates have been inducted and sworn in by the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) of the Ministry of Health in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The graduates had completed various professional health programmes, including diplomas in medical laboratory, environmental health, dispensing optics, occupational health and safety and health information management.
Others are diplomas in health promotion, medical laboratory technology, occupational therapy, dietetics technology, disease control, community mental health and registered dental surgery assistantship.
The rest are diplomas in diagnostic radiological technology, prosthetics and orthotics technology and trauma and orthopaedics.
By their induction and professional oath swearing, they are now properly inducted into the health profession to undergo their mandatory one-year internship.
Upon successful completion of the internship programme, they would be required to take and pass the Council’s professional Licensure Examination in October 2026 as a prerequisite for permanent registration and licensing.
The Board Chairman of the Allied Health Professions Council, Professor Eric Desmond Kotei Addison, administered the oath of the allied health professions to the graduates and inducted them as well.
It was on the theme: “Resetting Ghana’s allied health agenda: The strategic role of the regulator and the professional”.
Concentration
In a speech read by the Director of Technical Coordination, Ministry of Health, Dr Adam Hafez Taher, on behalf of the sector minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said that for far too long, the concentration of health professionals in urban centres had left rural communities underserved.
The graduates
To this end, he said the ministry, through health workforce distribution policy, was working closely with the AHPC and other stakeholders to ensure that allied health professionals are more evenly deployed across all regions.
“The future of healthcare delivery in Ghana will be data-driven, technology-enabled and people-centred,” Mr Akandoh stated.
Healthcare landscape
The Registrar, AHPC, Dr Shirazu Issahaku, said the healthcare delivery landscape was changing, shaped by technology, evolving disease patterns and growing patient expectations.
He stated that the council would ensure that standards remained uncompromised, in addition to professionals demonstrating leadership, accountability and ethical excellence in every interaction with the public they serve.
He announced that for the first time, the council successfully conducted its licensure examination through a computer-based testing system, stressing that “this innovation is not merely about technology; it is about transparency, efficiency and credibility.
Work effectively
A Professor of Clinical Optometry at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Samuel Kyei, who was the guest speaker, underscored the need for professionals within the allied health fraternity to appreciate their important role in the healthcare delivery system in the country.
He admonished them to work effectively as a team and not as one dysfunctioning, saying: “We must endeavour to be tolerant and treat each other with mutual respect”.
“Lack of tolerance and mutual respect breeds unhealthy in-fighting and acrimony among practitioners, at the detriment of the patient for whom we swear our professional oath,” he stated.
For his part, Professor Addison, who chaired the event, urged the graduates to understudy their coaches and mentors while on the internship to enable them to acquire the required practical knowledge and skills to make an impact in society.
Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh.
