The Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS), Professor Richard Adanu, has appealed to government for support in its quest to double the training of specialist doctors for the country.
According to him even though the rate of production of specialists in the country had seen much improvement following the establishment of the college 20 years ago, the numbers did not meet the needs or requirements of the country.
“When we look at the numbers… one of the reason why the college was set up was because of the slow production of medical specialists in the country and over the past 20 years the rate of production is much better than it was when the college was set up so in that sense the college has been successful.
However, if you look at the number of specialists in relation to our population, we are still not hitting the mark that we need to,” he stressed.
Prof. Adanu made the appeal when the council of the college paid a courtesy call on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
The visit was to formally brief and invite the President to the 20th anniversary celebration of the college.
It was also to let the President in on the important role of the college in national development, highlighting its successes, challenges and the way forward.
Prof. Adanu said currently, the college had about 1,400 doctors under training in different parts of the country, stressing that “The training occurs mainly in seven hospitals and I think that is the thing that we are not happy about because if you look at the number of hospitals in this country and we are only doing specialist training in only seven of them, then we have some long way to go.
He noted that the Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching hospitals took the largest number of specialists covering all the fields of specialisation and there were five other hospitals comprising, the 37 Military, Ridge, Cape Coast, Tamale and Ho Teaching hospitals.
The rector said to address the challenge, the college had decided to expand the training to all regional hospitals in the country by 2030.
He said already fellowship training had started at the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman with plans, far advanced to commence same at Efia Nkwanta Hospital in Takoradi and the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua.
Prof. Adanu explained that the expansion plan was very crucial since it would ensure that there were enough specialists to rung the new hospitals being constructed under the agenda 111 programme of the government.
President Akufo-Addo on his part said it was refreshing to listen to the council and pledged his government’s support to their programme.
“We are going to see the best we can do to assist you, but the work that you are doing there is so important and I think it is the responsibility of government to put a stronger shoulder as possible to the wheel of progress and allow you to be able to carry out this important responsibilities,” he emphasised.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
