Efforts to tackle complex medical conditions such as cancer and kidney disease in Ghana are receiving a major boost through targeted investments in specialist medical training.
The deputy health minister and Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, revealed that the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, popular known as Mahama Cares, is expanding its scope beyond direct patient financing to address critical manpower deficits across the health sector.
Addressing journalists at Parliament House, Dr Ayensu-Danquah highlighted the urgent need for advanced medical expertise to manage increasingly sophisticated health conditions.
“I guess not only will it support you with funds to support your care, it is also supposed to do certain things. Because people who have cancer, the disease is very sophisticated. It is not a disease that anybody can take care of. Often times you need specialist. Not only do you need specialist, you need super sub-specialist,” she stated.
She noted that specialized roles, including surgeons focused exclusively on breast cancer and radiation therapists operating high-end machinery, remain critically scarce across the nation.
“The people to man it, the radiologist, the radiation technologist, is somebody who has gone to school for so many years. So because we need those kinds of expertise, Mahama Cares is also working with the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to train those specialists,” she noted.
Beyond physicians, the initiative is actively partnering with nursing institutions to build capacity across critical branches of medicine, including oncology, nephrology, emergency, critical care, and endocrinology.
“Those are super sub-specialist nurses. So Mahama Cares is also working with the nursing institutions to train those people to come and support that agenda or that care,” she added.
The development comes against the backdrop of growing alarm over high mortality rates associated with breast cancer, which claims around 2,000 lives in Ghana every year, predominantly as a result of delayed medical presentation.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
