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MDC institutes policy guide for health professionals

The Medical and Dental Council(MDC) have instituted policy guide that requires health care practitioners to wear appropriate apparel within the healthcare setting or facility.

This would help weed out unlicenced, unregistered or fake practitioners in the health sector.

This was disclosed at the policy launch and dialogue organised by MDC in Accra yesterday.

Dr Daniel Asare, Board Chair, Health Facility Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) whose speech was read on his behalf by Dr Philip Bannerman said the policy would require all practitioners including, Doctors, Dental Surgeons and Physician Assistants to wear the appropriate professional apparel at all times while within the health care facility.

This according to him, would help enhance professionalism, promote good practices, and make it easier for patients to identify care caregivers, make informed decisions about the choice of their practitioner and improve the quality and safety of care to the patients.

“The policy guide is to promote easy identification of the various categories of practitioners working within the health space, promote professionalism and infection, prevention and control of (IP&C) practices, linking a practitioner to every medical record or report or test or prescription and weeding out unlicenced or unregistered or unqualified practitioners among others,” he said

DrAsare said the policy which includes a stamps policy, name tags and appropriate professional apparel would cover all practitioners registered and licenced by the council.

According to him, it would also include practitioners working in the public health facilities, private health facilities, Christian health association of Ghana, and other faith-Based Organisations.

“The self-inking stamp as approved by the council must bear the name of the practitioner, designation, which include the council’s registration number, facility, signature and date,” he said.

DrAsare further said, the MDC registration number would act as the unique identifier and help differentiate between the various categories of practitioners on the class of registers under the act.

He said the stamp would be used by the medical practitioner during prescriptions, issuing medical reports or records or documents required by law, writing referrals and issuing laboratory tests or imaging requests.

Professor Richard Mawuena Kofi Adanu, Rector, Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in a presentation said trained doctors who would be captured on the register must meet the requirements of having obtained the Basic Medical School Training.

He said the practitioner must also have completed the two year house officer rotation and three year basic specialisation training.

He was optimistic that policy would improve regulation of medical and dental practice, while ensuring limits of practices for practitioners and a guide for general public in knowing where to seek services.

Professor Francis Ofei, of School Of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast said the observation of the MDC in accessing candidates who receive their basic medical training abroad revealed that most of the candidates lacked knowledge in basic health practice.

“We discovered that some of these medical students have their basic background in general arts, visual arts, business among others but end up doing medicine, while others lack the practical training,” he added.

BY AGNES OPOKU SARPONG.

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