GMA APPEALS TO GOVT (NOV 10, PAGE 30)

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, reconstitute and inaugurate the dissolved board and the council of the Medical and Dental Council and the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons respectively, to enable them to execute their lawful mandate.
The association equally urged the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to streamline its programmes and avoid concentrating them in a few teaching hospitals, to the detriment of medical officers in deprived communities.
In a communiqué read by its President, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, at the end of its 51st annual general meeting in Tamale on Sunday, the GMA said, “Training should also place emphasis on practical district and community rotation that results in learning while delivering service.”
The week-long meeting was on the theme, “Towards a Better Health Care for Ghana; the Human Resource Challenges and Solutions”.
The communiqué further called on the government to resource health training institutions in the country and also offer more support for post-graduate studies.
It emphasised the need for the government to put in place a comprehensive package to attract health workers into deprived communities and retain them.
“District assemblies should also take urgent steps to address frustrating accommodation challenges by providing adequate and decent accommodation for health workers posted to deprived areas,” it said.
It said the GMA would continue to call upon its members to accept postings to serve in deprived areas of the country.
On the smooth operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), it called for the regular review of tariffs, while ensuring prompt re-imbursement of claims submitted by providers to avoid compromising quality care of clients.
Touching on the welfare of GMA members, the communiqué stressed the need for the government to address all outstanding issues on the conditions of service of doctors in the public sector.