Private medical practitioners must set the pace

The Eastern Regional Deputy Director of Health Services in-charge of Clinical Care, Dr Winfred Addo- Larbi, has tasked private medical practitioners to set high clinical standards for general medical care in Ghana.

He explained that the standards should transcend the mediocre care in public institution for Ghanaians to receive better satisfactory health care across board.

Dr Addo-Larbi was speaking at the formal opening of the 36th Annual General Meeting of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners (SPMDP) Ghana, at Koforidua.

The meeting under the theme: “Neglected Tropical Diseases”.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, urged the meeting to come out with pragmatic policy direction and guidelines on handling the various neglected tropical diseases.

He appealed to private medical and dental practitioners to join hands with other opinion leaders to clear the misconceptions about the Ebola disease and to educate the society on how to prevent the spread of the disease.

The Regional Minister pleaded with Ghanaians to rise above partisan interests to join the search for solutions to national challenges.

The National President of the SPMDP, Ghana, Dr Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, said private medical practitioners are ready to take up the challenge of the implementation of the proposed public-private sector partnership in health delivery.

However, he called for stakeholders’ meetings to resolve pertinent issues, including those related to policy, regulation and institutional environment, for the collaboration in health care.

In a welcoming address, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the SPMDP, Ghana, Dr S. Osei Adjei, observed that, many African communities are not able to break through the cycle of poverty because of the existence of some of the neglected tropical diseases in those communities.

He called for collaboration among African research scientists in finding lasting solutions to the challenges posed by the neglected tropical disease.