Declaration Of Strike By Ghana Physician Assistants Union Against unfair Treatment By Medical And Dental Council Of Ghana

Physician Assistants across the country have been on a nationwide strike since the 24th of July, 2023 over unfair treatment meted out to them by the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana.

The effect of the strike has resulted in a total reduction in OPD attendance since patients are left frustrated when they visit hospitals and health centres.

The Physician Assistants (PAs) are a group of professionals who have been trained to manage patients receiving treatment at hospitals and health centres across the country. At the hospitals, they occupy most of the consulting rooms attending to patients with same practice at the health centres. The profession has existed since the 1960's ensuring the survival of the delivery of accessible and affordable primary health care services predominantly in the rural areas of this country without which a lot of lives would have been lost owing to inadequate health infrastructure and personnel.

The regulation of this group of professionals started a decade ago but has been unfriendly from the beginning and has progressed to the strangulation of these professionals. Apart from charging exorbitant fees for registration for licensure exams, license registration and licence renewal, the council has consistently humiliated these professionals and has vowed to eliminate this cadre of workers that serves as the backbone of primary health care in Ghana to the detriment of the ordinary Ghanaian.

In pursuant of their agenda, the council secretly amended section 43 of the health service regulatory Act, Act 857 seeking to present it for approval by Parliament with the aim to take the right of Physician Assistants from attending to patients except under supervision of a medical officer. Contrary to the above, PAs work independently but collaboratively with other members of the health team and have an existing supervision model by the employer (GHS). Those working at the health centres receive supervision from the Municipal/District Directors whereas those in hospitals by Medical Directors/Supts. There hasn't been any cause to change this traditional model which has been effective for all these years except for the reason that the council is promoting modern day slavery.

They have impeded the progress of these professionals from almost everything including career progression, signing of official documents, PA manning their own facilities etc. They have excluded PAs as Medical and Dental Practitioners and have stated that, they are not practitioners yet they are being regulated by them because they practice medicine and dentistry. What description do you give to a licensed personnel who practice medicine and dentistry?

The professionals, based on the treatment they have been subjected to all these years, are fully convinced that the regulator, Medical and Dental Council (MDC) has and doesn't mean well for them and have cried foul that there should be the withdrawal of the proposed amended bill, cancellation of the devaluing SoP since there is an existing job description and code of conduct, and calls for exit from the Medical and Dental Council as a regulator for the PA profession. They appeal to the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and other governmental agencies to see to the amicable resolution of this impasse.

It is important to state that, these actions of the regulator if not averted will have a ripple effect on the health of the ordinary Ghanaian since it is instructive that in the new amended bill that, they (Ghanaians) cannot be attended to by any Physician Assistant when they visit the health facilities except under supervision. The same group of professionals that have safeguarded their health all these years particularly in the rural areas.