The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has voiced its concerns regarding the emergence of new medical schools within the country. Dr. Frank Serebour, the president of the GMA, cautioned during an interview with Citi News that this trend could compromise the standards and quality of medical education and practice.
Rather than establishing new institutions, Dr. Serebour urged the government to focus on enhancing existing facilities to accommodate more students. He emphasized the importance of maintaining high standards and quality in healthcare education, expressing dissatisfaction with the proliferation of new medical schools.
Dr. Serebour proposed the adoption of the external teaching site model as a solution, believing it would uphold standards, ensure quality, and accommodate a sufficient number of students.
I am not happy and I think it is wrong for us to be creating new medical schools all over the place and I believe that the external teachers’ size is the way to go. And that for me would ensure that standards are maintained, quality is ensured and even good numbers, and it is also easy and cheap and it’s better than you converting every regional hospital into a teaching hospital or medical school.”
Amidst the myriad challenges confronting Ghana’s healthcare sector, the concerns raised by the GMA highlight the significant impact on healthcare delivery. Notably, one pressing issue is the strain on health facilities serving as teaching hospitals.
In response to these challenges, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Bekwai Municipal Hospital to function as a clinical training center for KNUST medical students. This collaborative effort aims to alleviate the burden on Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in providing adequate training for KNUST medical students.
Joseph Osei-Owusu, Member of Parliament for Bekwai and First Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership. He emphasized the necessity of medical student training and affirmed their willingness to expand resources, subject to availability of funds.
“Training of a medical student is a must, a necessity. These two institutions plus the others are still not sufficient. And willing to expand, of course, it comes with money. And so the day you announced that Bekwai hospital is ready for use as training, I’ve known no peace.”
Further
Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, who is the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, stressed how important it is to keep high standards in medical education. She mentioned this because healthcare workers are very important for looking after people.
“Regardless of the fact that we are challenged by the huge numbers, one thing that we don’t want to get wrong is that standards must always be maintained because these health professionals are the people that will look after us when are not, in fact when we are unconscious. When you can’t speak, they’ll decide what to do with you and me so we better ensure that the standards are intact.”
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