Experts diagnose healthcare problems at GhanaWeb healthcare forum

27th of November, was no doubt a unique day in the history of healthcare in Ghana when big shots in Ghana’s health sector graced the first of its kind forum themed: “Improving the Quality of Healthcare Delivery and Patient Safety in Ghana,” held at Ghana Physicians and Surgeons College, in Accra.

The health forum which was convened by Dr. Joseph Boateng, a Physician Specialist, and sponsored by Ghanaweb was to discuss the many problems in the healthcare delivery system in the country and to factor out ways to achieve quality healthcare delivery in Ghana.

The event, which is expected to end on Thursday evening, attracted respected medical practitioners, including Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa, a Pathologist and Dr Eli Atikpui, Registrar at the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana.

Dr. Boateng who spoke on the topic: “Defining the Problem,” cautioned that the health forum is not meant to criticize anyone or a particular government, but rather discuss pressing matters bedeviling health care delivery in the country.

Dr. Boateng in his address reinforces the need to arrest the skyrocketing rate of mortality. He said averting preventable death would not only reduce the loss of precious lives, but will as well help reduce human, economic and social cost to the victims’ family, employer and the nation.

He advised that it is high time medical practitioners stood up to address the negative tendencies retarding progress in the sector. “We are not meeting the needs of patients, having effective communication with them to help uplift healthcare delivery in the nation and for this to happen, doctors should be responsible for what they do to patients,” he retorted.

Meanwhile, the Registrar at the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, Dr. Eli Atikpui says with the professional body’s objective of securing, in the public interest, the highest standard of training and practice of Dental and Medical practitioners, the body also ensures standard training, registration and regulation of members of the body.

Dr. Atikpui who displayed several means, through which ill-trained and fake doctors find their ways into the industry, disclosed that his outfit was taking stringent steps to prevent non-professionals from infiltrating their ranks.

On her part, the Minister of Health, Sherry Ayittey, expressed her disappointment at the ill-equipped hospitals, un-accommodating nurses and undisciplined healthcare specialists, who often get away with their unprofessional actions.

Against that backdrop, she charged the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana to take measures to discipline practitioners who violate their work ethics in discharging their duties.

The minister stressed: “The lack of assurance of quality stems from several factors, some of which do not fall directly under the health sector. Neglect of road infrastructure, lack of potable water and the general lack of appreciation of basic principles of health and diseases, contribute a great deal towards the low levels of quality in healthcare delivery”.

Madam Ayittey, however, charged participants to help design what she described as “a workable solution” to help improve quality healthcare delivery in the country.

Visit health.ghanaweb.com/forum2013 for more information