Do more to admit qualified students to study medicine - Education Minister tells medical schools

Education Minister, Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang has called on medical schools in the country to find innovative ways of admitting, training and certifying medical doctors in the country.

According to her, the number of students who qualify but do not get admission into the various schools of medical sciences to be trained as doctors in the country is heartbreaking.

Prof. Jane Nana Opoku Agyemang, who was speaking at the 47 th congregation and 2 nd induction ceremony of the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Cape Coast, expressed her unhappiness about the doctor –patient ratio in the country.

“I would call on all medical schools in the country to think of innovative ways of admission of training and of certifying our doctors. We need more doctors than we have now. What is happening is not tenable. Clearly, the numbers are still too low. The heart breaking part is that we have enough students who qualify and who can be very good doctors. We need to reach out a little bit more by doing things differently,” she intimated.

Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang appealed to Schools of Medical Sciences across the country to look around for solutions to the challenge by engaging private hospitals in the country.

“I really want to make a passionate appeal to my own College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Ghana Dental and Medical Council to look again at the possibility of incorporating a number of the private hospitals during the clinicals of these students. This will highly impact the number of students that are admitted into the Medical Schools.”

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Domwine Dabire Kuupole in his address  revealed that the university was planning to open more clinical sites across the country to enable the school of Allied Sciences expand its intake of students to study medicine to improve the doctor-patient ratio.

“We have initiated a lot of plans of to help admit more students. We are really concerned about the situation.  The University gives the best of training to students to ensure that they come out as the best doctors the country has ever produced. The mode of the curriculum delivery of the Bachelor of Medicine and the Bachelor of Surgery of the school makes it possible for students to be engaged in problem-made learning techniques in which they develop problem solving and critical thinking skills.  The adoption of the community based experience in the curriculum of the school is helping the students to develop the needed exposure that helps the students to develop research skills to offer services to people in the rural areas”, he explained.

The Vice Chancellor also intimated that the University of Cape Coast has since the 1 st of August, 2014 adopted the collegiate system with the purpose of sharing resources and devolving some areas of administration to allow effectiveness and efficiencies in the delivery of services to the public.

The University graduated 46 doctors to commence their housemanship training at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. In attendance were the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Sir Sam Jonah and the Chairman of the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, Dr. K. O. Adadey.