Upgrade Regional Hospitals to Teaching Hospitals

Accra, Sept. 22, GNA - Professor Seth Ayittey, Provost of the College of Health Science, University of Ghana, Legon on Monday called for the upgrading of regional hospitals to teaching hospitals so as to have more medical schools to become clinical teaching institutions. This he said would also improve health care in the regions and districts down to the rural communities since they would work closely with the communities.

Prof. Ayittey noted that the strategy would ensure the establishment of a modern bio-medical school and postgraduate bio-medical research institute to increase the intake of students.

Prof Ayittey said this at the launch of the Corporate Strategic Plan for the College in Accra aimed at producing highly qualified and competent health professionals and medical scientists to provide vision for the College.

It is to bring good health, comfort and happiness to provide promotional, preventive and curative services to meet the health needs of the people.

Professor Ayittey said the country would lose over three billion dollars for the 1,500 Ghanaian doctors working outside.

He said those doctors trained in Ghana, have a 40-year working life at a minimum economic value of 50 dollars per hour per doctor and they leave at the prime of their life when they were intellectually powerful and productive to contribute to the advancement of health sciences and health care delivery of the country.

Prof. Ayittey said, even though, the movement of such skilled professionals could not be prevented, "the country is losing its economic wealth to the already well-developed countries through the brain drain".

He said the strategic plan would build a strong and excellent academic base for health education and manpower development. The College has since its establishment in 1969 produced 2,500 local doctors out of which 700 have left the shores of the country to seek greener pastures leaving 1,800 to care for the population of about 20 million people.

Dr Ishmael Yamson, who launched the Strategic Plan, said it should not be seen as the end of it but ensure that the points mentioned were implemented without creating any vacuum.

Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister for Education, Youth and Sports, in a speech read for him, urged the College to provide attractive incentives that would retain young health professionals to offer their services to the country.

He said the College should stress on the need for the young professionals to be selfless and patriotic as "the task of building a nation is the prime responsibility of its citizens".

He said there was the need for stakeholders to take a critical look at the funding of tertiary education and the involvement of the private sector in it since tertiary institutions played a very important role in the nation's quest to use quality human resources to accelerate its economic transformation.

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health, called for a Code of Ethics of International Migration of Health Professionals to reduce the problem of brain drain.

On the issue of HIV/AIDS, the Health Minister said efforts should be accelerated to contain the situation.

He reiterated that government was doing all it could to create an enabling environment for health professionals to be retained in the country with attractive incentives.

Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, who presided, called on all to put politics aside and support the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme and urged government to consider the involvement of the large number of people in the informal sector.