8 regions in Ghana are without Senior Specialists – MDC sends distress call
A distress message has been sent by the Medical and Dental Council to government about the risk posed by inadequate senior medical specialists in many health facilities across the country.
The situation, which is caused by inequitable distribution of senior specialists, is worse in five regions that are without a single of this health cadre in the very limited health facilities available.
This puts healthcare seekers in those regions in a dire situation as the absence of the specialists means they cannot access specialised services.
The Medical and Dental Council currently has over ten thousand registered Medical and Dental practitioners. The Greater Accra and Ashanti regions have 83% of the total number of these doctors.
Absence of the registered Senior Specialists in eight out of the sixteen regions of the country, run counter to the objectives of the universally accepted Sustainable Development Goal 3 which is targeted at good health ‘’to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.’
Speaking at at the Medical Training and Practice Conference of the Medical and Dental Council in Accra on Tuesday, Registrar of the Council, Dr. Divine Ndonbi Banyubala made the urgent call to government.
In his address, Dr. Banyubala said, “Worryingly, half of our sixteen regions in particular Ahafo, Oti, North East, Upper East, Western, Upper West, Western North, and Savannah regions have not registered a single Specialist”
Source: Ghana News
