The Minister for Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, says the government has adopted measures aimed at addressing the surge in Ghanaian medical professionals leaving the country for greener pastures.
He made the remarks during the 33rd Annual General Congress of the Ghana Dental Association (GDA) in Kumasi on the theme
“Strengthening the GDA: An All-Inclusive Membership for Tomorrow’s Success.
Nearly 4000 nurses left Ghana for Europe and America in 2023 alone in search of better job opportunities, a situation some medical professionals have described as worrying.
The Dean of the KNUST School of Medicine and Dentistry, Prof. Akwasi Antwi-Kusi, also raised concerns over the unfortunate situation.
“According to the Ghana Nurses and Midwives Association, nearly 4,000 nurses left Ghana for Europe and America in 2023 for better jobs. Without equivocation, one of the critical challenges the health sector will face in the next decade is a shortage of essential health care workers.”
“If the ongoing trend is not checked, it will pose significant challenges to the provision of quality and accessible health care for all. I am quite optimistic that the Ghana Dental Association and other professional bodies in the country are thinking through how to prevent such phenomenon in their ranks.”
The Health Minister responding to the concerns raised gave an assurance that the government is handling the matter.
“One of the things that the ministry is going to promote and sponsor has to do with partnerships, MoUs between the training centres and the let’s say the district facilities, the health centres and possibly even the CHPS compounds.”
“I think as professionals who always want to improve or increase our knowledge, we are comfortable when we are given logbooks that says that as part of your training at Komfo Anokye go to a particular district for some one month as part of the training. So, if we fashion this very well and the relationship between the Ghana Health Service facilities, most of the government facilities outside the teaching hospitals are under Dr. Kumah Aboagye.”
“If we can have MoUs between these facilities and the teaching hospitals or the regional hospitals or the big centres where dentists are comfortable to practice, then through this route, we’ll find a way to make sure that every Ghanaian gets to have an experience with the dentist. And so, I believe MoUs is the way to go.
“The second strategy or policy would be to work together with GDA, Ghana Education Service, and the teaching hospitals so that we can increase the numbers that we train annually.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
