The Minority in Parliament wants the government to “quickly absorb” the over 200 doctors who have returned to Ghana after receiving years of training in Cuba.
The Ranking Member for Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh in a statement said the government must not frustrate the new doctors who are ready and willing to be posted to the various districts and implement their practical knowledge to improve the Ghanaian health system.
The doctors were sent to Cuba during the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government under the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills in 2012 as part of a special arrangement between Ghana and Cuba.
The Minority in the statement congratulated the doctors and urged them to take up postings in every region they are sent to.
“As we welcome them back we know that they are ready and willing to be posted to the various districts and implement their practical knowledge to ultimately improve the Ghanaian health system,” the Minority added in the statement.
Read the minority’s statement below:
MINORITY WELCOMES 221 GHANAIAN MEDICAL DOCTORS TRAINED IN CUBA.
The Minority in Parliament would like to welcome back to Ghana the first batch of Ghanaian Doctors who successfully completed an historic 6-year educational experience in Cuba.
We congratulate them for the hard work done, as they have made their friends, relatives, and the entire nation proud by earning these prestigious degrees. Medicine is a difficult but rewarding degree that addresses critical health concerns in Ghana.
Back in 2012, one of the responses of the then NDC administration to the challenge of low doctor/patient ratio was to consider a needs based assessment at the district level. The response to this was to implement a policy that would ensure that at least one Doctor was posted to every District in the country. The idea was therefore to increase the number of Doctors within six years starting from 2012 by training 250 doctors per year so that by 2019 we would start receiving the first batch of the Doctors.
This idea was crystallized through a special arrangement between the Cuban government and the Government of Ghana, and was spearheaded by the then Vice President John Dramani Mahama.
The attitude and characteristics of the Cuban medical/health system made the country the obvious choice. Subsequently, the NDC government led by the late Professor Mills and ably assisted by his then Vice President John Mahama made arrangements for candidates to be selected across the length and breadth of the country to eventually send 250 students for intensive world class training.
Today, so far, 221 of them have returned as qualified medical officers to serve their country. Among them includes Dr. Ahmed Owusu who emerged the Best foreign Doctor.
As we welcome them back we know that they are ready and willing to be posted to the various districts and implement their practical knowledge to ultimately improve the Ghanaian health system.
In the spirit of continuous governance we call on the current government not to frustrate them but rather quickly absorb them into our health sector.
We finally call on the current government to improve the conditions of service for medical doctors in general. We need to address the doctor/patient ratio in order to approach the world class standards that we know Ghana is capable of.
Signed: Kwabena Mintah Mintah Akandoh (MP)
(Ranking Member, Parliamentary Select Committee on Health)
Ghana’s cooperation with Cuba in the area of health has been consistent for a very long time.
The current Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently facilitated a training opportunity for 40 brilliant and needy medical students from Zongo, inner cities and other deprived communities in the country.
According to the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Cuba accepted to undertake the program following a proposal from the Vice President, Dr. Mahama Bawumia, to the Government of Cuba to extend the special arrangement between the two countries for the training of health personnel in deprived communities.
The Ranking Member for Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh in a statement said the government must not frustrate the new doctors who are ready and willing to be posted to the various districts and implement their practical knowledge to improve the Ghanaian health system.
The doctors were sent to Cuba during the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government under the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills in 2012 as part of a special arrangement between Ghana and Cuba.
The Minority in the statement congratulated the doctors and urged them to take up postings in every region they are sent to.
“As we welcome them back we know that they are ready and willing to be posted to the various districts and implement their practical knowledge to ultimately improve the Ghanaian health system,” the Minority added in the statement.
Read the minority’s statement below:
MINORITY WELCOMES 221 GHANAIAN MEDICAL DOCTORS TRAINED IN CUBA.
The Minority in Parliament would like to welcome back to Ghana the first batch of Ghanaian Doctors who successfully completed an historic 6-year educational experience in Cuba.
We congratulate them for the hard work done, as they have made their friends, relatives, and the entire nation proud by earning these prestigious degrees. Medicine is a difficult but rewarding degree that addresses critical health concerns in Ghana.
Back in 2012, one of the responses of the then NDC administration to the challenge of low doctor/patient ratio was to consider a needs based assessment at the district level. The response to this was to implement a policy that would ensure that at least one Doctor was posted to every District in the country. The idea was therefore to increase the number of Doctors within six years starting from 2012 by training 250 doctors per year so that by 2019 we would start receiving the first batch of the Doctors.
This idea was crystallized through a special arrangement between the Cuban government and the Government of Ghana, and was spearheaded by the then Vice President John Dramani Mahama.
The attitude and characteristics of the Cuban medical/health system made the country the obvious choice. Subsequently, the NDC government led by the late Professor Mills and ably assisted by his then Vice President John Mahama made arrangements for candidates to be selected across the length and breadth of the country to eventually send 250 students for intensive world class training.
Today, so far, 221 of them have returned as qualified medical officers to serve their country. Among them includes Dr. Ahmed Owusu who emerged the Best foreign Doctor.
As we welcome them back we know that they are ready and willing to be posted to the various districts and implement their practical knowledge to ultimately improve the Ghanaian health system.
In the spirit of continuous governance we call on the current government not to frustrate them but rather quickly absorb them into our health sector.
We finally call on the current government to improve the conditions of service for medical doctors in general. We need to address the doctor/patient ratio in order to approach the world class standards that we know Ghana is capable of.
Signed: Kwabena Mintah Mintah Akandoh (MP)
(Ranking Member, Parliamentary Select Committee on Health)
Ghana’s cooperation with Cuba in the area of health has been consistent for a very long time.
The current Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently facilitated a training opportunity for 40 brilliant and needy medical students from Zongo, inner cities and other deprived communities in the country.
According to the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Cuba accepted to undertake the program following a proposal from the Vice President, Dr. Mahama Bawumia, to the Government of Cuba to extend the special arrangement between the two countries for the training of health personnel in deprived communities.