One doctor to 11,500 Ghanaians

Accra (Greater Accra), 9th November 99 - The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), will hold its 41st annual general conference at Ho from 10th ? 14th November, with the issue of the brain drain in the health sector taking centre stage.

A GMA statement in Accra on Tuesday said the health sector is the worst hit by brain drain with the national physician-patient ratio as of December last year standing at one doctor to 11,000 Ghanaians. Statistics given by the GMA, put the total number of medical and dental practitioners in the country at 1,640.

Some figures given by the GMA on the regional distribution of the physician-patient ratio are, 1:66,939 in the Upper East, 1:22,694 in Brong Ahafo with Greater Accra having the best concentration,1:3,025.

The figures include all physicians in the Ministry of Health, medical schools, military, private practice, mining companies, industries and corporate bodies among others.

The GMA notes that "the ratio could be worse now since the crises over conditions of service from last December and January this year have left in its wake the exodus of some more practitioners."

The theme for the conference therefore is "arresting the brain drain in the health sector."

The GMA said "all professional groups are affected in the health sector leaving the most sensitive positions vacant and thus risking the lives of the population."

The statement notes that a number of Ghanaian doctors and dentists have been trained both locally and abroad and yet the number of physicians practising in the country has not improved against an ever increasing population.

"Certainly this nation cannot and should not continue to invest in the training of such manpower only to lose them in no time to provide high quality service not only to the developed countries but also to neighbouring and economically equal or less competing countries in our sub region."

This situation, the association notes, has left the few practitioners available with enormous ever increasing job responsibilities and very odd work schedules, "all for unattractive conditions of service."

"This has adversely affected the quality of health care despite the apparent improvement in infrastructure and sometimes equipment."

The meeting would among other things examine the various factors which have contributed to the magnitude of the brain drain and package some positive solutions as the way forward.