The Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS), will from next year bring fellowship training to Regional and District hospitals in the country. This is to enable fellowship trainees to have the opportunity to train at the same time while providing healthcare to the community.

The Rector of the College, Prof. Richard Adanu, who announced this at the 19th Annual General and Scientific Meeting in Accra, said every Ghanaian needs to be catered for by a specialist, not only at the Teaching, Regional, and District hospitals. He, therefore, urged middle-level doctors to take advantage of the fellowship training to provide the utmost care to Ghanaians.

Prof. Richard Adanu said it is no longer acceptable to have specialist training only at Teaching hospitals because of the growing demand for health care. He said an MOU has therefore been signed with the Ghana Health Service and other relevant stakeholders to develop fellowship training programmes that would primarily be housed in regional hospitals. Prof. Richard Adanu said the college has also developed a modular basic research course for the membership level that will enable trainees to get all the needed theoretical foundations in research.

“One thing that we are doing to bring Fellowship Training closer to our members is that we are working on developing Fellowship training programmes that would be primarily housed in Regional Hospitals. Such programmes when successfully launched, hopefully, next year, Fellowship trainees for the general speciality areas can have their training in the Regions where they practice and still provide service in their parent hospitals as part of the training. In such cases there will be no need for a study leave or a gap between Membership qualification and the start of Fellowship training,” he said.

A Deputy Minister of Health, Mahama Asei Seini, said though the college has done a lot to increase the number of specialists in the country, the rate of production of members and fellows does not match the growing health needs of the country. He said the ministry will continue to find imperative ways to improve the statistics.

“Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons has done a lot in increasing the number of specialists in Ghana. However, it is clear to us all that the rate of production of Members and Fellows of the College does not match the growing healthcare needs of the country. It is therefore imperative for us to find ways of further increasing our outputs. We hope to see the establishment of new training centres under this initiative within the next year,” Mr. Seini said.

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, said the UK will continue to strengthen the capacity of Ghana’s postgraduate medical education training through grants to help achieve the SDGs by 2030.

“We are supporting the strengthening of postgraduate medical training through partnerships between the College of Physicians and Surgeons and four UK Royal Colleges in Emergency Medicine, Anaesthesia. We are excited to begin work with the Ministry of Health and UK hospitals to decentralise postgraduate medical education in Ghana by expanding the number of accredited medical teaching sites outside of Accra. The UK will augment existing rural incentive schemes by providing international exchange placement schemes for UK and Ghanaian trainees working in rural locations,” Mrs. Thompson said.

The Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons trains specialist doctors in medicine, surgery, and other related fields in Ghana and the sub-region. The training enables doctors to provide care in complicated health cases and conduct research in demanding health needs. 294 new fellows and members were inducted. An honorary fellowship award was given to Prof. Matthias Richter-Turtur for his contribution to healthcare and research in the country. The Vice President of the College, Prof. Samuel Debrah, was elected the new President. He assumes office on January 1, 2023.