President Nana Akufo-Addo has admonished young doctors to accept postings in rural communities in the country.
He said they shouldn’t see that as a punishment but a way of contributing their quota to the development of Ghana.
Ghana’s doctor to patient ratio currently stands at one doctor to 8,000 patients a situation the president described as “woefully inadequate.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”6DVcAIPCBiZ81TiSMpd7C0xuigQuZBU8″]The President made the comment while speaking at the congregation ceremony for medical students at the University of Cape Coast Medical School in the Central Region no Saturday as part of his tour of the region.
“Our doctor patient ratio is even more lump sided when you get to the rural and deprived areas of our country. I do not put the all the blame on our medical doctors unwillingness to work in these communities. If we had good road networks and good schools are available around the country and not only in the urban centers, if we had electricity supply in all communities we will not have to be asked indeed insist that our young doctors take up postings in the rural communities. As we train more doctors to solve the shortage of doctors, we must also do more to keep them,” he added.
Brain drain
The president also complained about the brain drain of doctors.
According to him although Ghana trains a lot of doctors only few remain and serve the country and thus encouraged the young medical doctors from the Cape Coast University to stay and work in Ghana.
“…our medical schools have got a good reputation and have been training good doctors but the doctor population ratio in our country remains very unsatisfactory after 60 years of independence. We have trained a lot of doctors but many are not practicing in Ghana. We have lost them to mostly to countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom and Germany. I’m told that Ghana’s doctor patient ratio is approximately one doctor to 8,000 patients. This is woefully inadequate and unacceptable,” he lamented.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Joseph Ackon-Mensah /citifmonline.com/Ghana
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