14th Annual GPSF Conference successfully held

Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference of the Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation of North America (GPSF) organized for Ghanaian Health Care Professionals.

The 14th annual GPSF conference organized for Ghanaian Healthcare professionals took place at the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Hotel from April 22nd to 24th, 2016, with the theme ‘A Critical Appraisal of Health Literacy in Africa – Challenges and Possible Solutions’.

The conference attracted over 100 participants from the USA, Canada and Ghana. The anchoring academic sessions addressed a wide range of topics directly related to the conference theme and participants were awarded up to 10.75 hours of Category 1 Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits.

The conference attracted renowned and distinguished speakers from academia, healthcare practitioners, health services managers, entrepreneurs and political leaders.

The Minister of Health, Hon. Mr. Alexander P. Segbefia addressed the gathering and the Acting Chief Director, Ministry of Health, Dr. Afisah Zakaria was also in attendance.

All the speakers delivered very informative and thought provoking presentations. There was ample time for participants to “meet and greet,” and to network.

In his address, the out-going President of the Foundation, Dr. Yao-Foli Sekyema, reiterated the Foundation’s original mission which was to support the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS), which was established by the Ghana government to provide quality postgraduate and specialty medical training in Ghana.

He reminded conference attendees that the Foundation has supported several health initiatives as well as render health advocacy to influence health policy and educate the general public about important health issues.

Dr. Sekyema highlighted the Foundation’s many activities over the past year:

1) The membership of the Foundation contributed $7500 to purchase emergency medical supplies which were donated to 37 Military Hospital, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Burn Unit and also to support Joy-FM’s humanitarian fund drive in response to the Accra flood and fire disaster.

2) The Foundation launched the highly successful Travel Fellowship Award, otherwise known as the RITES program (Resident In-Training Educational Stipend), thanks to the generosity of its members. This award sponsors month(s) long attachment educational trips to US medical institutions for meritorious medical trainees selected by the faculty of the GCPS.

3) The Foundation continues to support, help organize and actively participate in the Annual Continuing Medical Education Conference for physicians in Ghana, dubbed Medical Knowledge Fiesta.

4) A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the Ministry of Health and the Foundation. This document is expected to facilitate more in depth collaboration and partnership with the Ministry of Health in carrying forth the mutually beneficial mission of the Foundation and the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Sekyema pointed out that there are on-going challenges that the Foundation is working to find solutions to.

He appealed to the government and the Ghana Medical and Dental Council to recognize Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.’s) as bona fide physicians and allow their licensure to practice in Ghana since their training is recognized across the world as being on par with that of their allopathic medicine colleagues.

The Foundation also continues to seek redress from the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Medical and Dental Council to reduce the cost of the temporary medical license that allows outside physicians (both from the Diaspora and non-Ghanaians), most of whom are volunteering, to be able to provide medical care to Ghanaians.

The Minister of Health, Hon. Mr. Alexander Segbefia addressed the gathering at the Saturday morning session. He reiterated the importance of good health literacy to the wellbeing of the average Ghanaian.

He gave valuable advice on ways to establish enduring relationships between the Ministry of Health and the GPSF for the good of the citizens of Ghana. In addition, he expressed his belief that proper health education must occur at the elementary school level and continue through to the tertiary level.

For the first time in its history, the conference started on Friday morning, April 22nd, with academic sessions that covered health literacy topics in such varied fields of medicine as Mental Health, Dentistry, HIV Awareness, Telemedicine and the use of technology to bridge the health literacy gap.

The academic sessions held on Saturday, April 23rd had presentations that were targeted towards the main conference theme with a broad range of topics including, disease of addiction, the important role private practitioners’ play in health literacy of the general public, and the role of basic medical research in promoting and strengthening health literacy.

Prof. Plange-Rhule, Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons delivered an update on the achievements of the College. There was a most informative panel discussion on the challenges and possible solutions to health literacy in Ghana.

The presentations were very well received and generated in depth discussions on the multidisciplinary approach needed to improve health literacy which will require a collaborative effort between both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.

The meeting was capped off with a Fundraising Gala Dinner Dance on Saturday night. This function raised over seventeen thousand US dollars ($17,000). Most of the amount pledged was to support unrestricted merit-based travel fellowships (RITES Program) that the GPSF will award to medical trainees in Ghana’s Post-Graduate Medical Education program to attend short-term attachment rotations at selected US hospitals. The GPSF is open to financial support from all individuals and organizations that support its goals; Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians alike.

For more information please visit www.ghanaphysicians.org