Ghana Medical Association expresses concerns over proliferation of new medical schools

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has voiced concerns regarding the establishment of new medical schools by tertiary institutions across the country.

According to the President of the GMA, Dr. Frank Serebour, the government should prioritize the expansion of existing medical training facilities, instead of creating new institutions.

He stressed the importance of maintaining quality training and standards in the healthcare sector, expressing dissatisfaction with the proliferation of new medical schools.

“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,” citinewsroom.com quoted the president.

These concerns arise amid numerous challenges facing Ghana's healthcare sector, including the strain on health facilities serving as teaching hospitals.

To address these challenges, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bekwai Municipal Hospital to serve as a clinical training center for medical students.

This collaboration aims to alleviate the pressure on the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), which currently shoulders the burden of training medical students from KNUST.

Joseph Osei-Owusu, the Member of Parliament (MP)for Bekwai and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, emphasizing the necessity of medical student training and willingness to expand with adequate funding.

NAY/AE

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

Watch the latest episode of People & Places below