Open Letter To The Hon. Minister Of Health On The Strangulation Of Allied Health Trainees By Ahpc

Mr. Minister, it is my hope that you are doing very well, as for me and several others Allied Health Trainees are not doing well at all. The root cause of our unhealthy Well-Being is as a results of well planned, calculated, well rehearsed and well executed unleashing of monsters on innocent Ghanaian Allied Health Trainees by one of your institution put in place to ensure the welfare of these vulnerable trainees and the Ghanaian citizen at large.

It came as a great joy and relief when the Health Professional Body Regulatory act was passed in 2013 ( Act 857 of 2013) to ensure all health professionals are duly regulated to safeguard the Well-Being of the ordinary citizenry, included in this act the creation of Allied Health Professions Council (Part one of the act), this council as a matter of fact has the highest number of professions that they regulate; it is however ironical to note that this council is the one that is performing very worse among it peers, and the most disgusting and mind-boggling thing is how the council has Marshall all its arsenal against the very people they regulate (Allied Health Professionals) and virtually visiting some form of "terrorism" on the very people they are billed to protect.

Hon. Minister, the Allied Health Trainees who successfully completed their courses of study from the various Health Training Schools and the Universities in 2017 were told to undertake one year compulsory internship before allowing them to write the licensing exams from the council as the ritual has been; an argument of "leaky bucket hypothesis" and "theory of decay" as a result of one year break from academic work from the trainees would not be countenances by the council neglecting the fact that some of their sister councils conduct their licensing exams before they start the internship. Mr. Minister at the heart of this is the unhealthy extortion of money from trainees; 1. The collection of GHC175 from Allied Health trainees as an induction fee and during the induction provisional certificate is issued. 2. Collection of GHC250 as examination fee immediately after completing the internship 3. Payment of another GHC 250 immediately the results are released in the name of permanent registration bringing all the amount collected within one year from each of the vulnerable and unemployed trainee to GHC 675.

What is fascinating and mind-blowing is the fact that the 2017 group after writing the Allied Health Council licensing exams on 12/10/2018, the results were released on 16/11/2018 with a notice that successful trainees should pay GHC 250 and register with the AHPC before 15/12/2018 using their online portal www.mohme.gov.gh/ahpc otherwise, face some sanctions for late registration. Mr. Minister since the announcement of this registration that would enable trainees get their PIN and as a result be eligible for employment (public or private), the site has strangely never opened for even a single person to register meaning the system was shutdown before the release of the examination results. The most disgusting of all is that it took the council two solid weeks to announce to the qualified trainees that the website has been shutdown for maintenance ( http://www.ahpcghana.org/news-media/news/important-public-notice). How can innocent citizens who have toiled to complete their various courses of study, go through difficult one year internship, write thrilling licensing examination and be denied permanent registration and effectively holding them to ransom from employment for four months on frivolous account of a website shutdown for maintenance. Which website maintenance takes that whooping period? If indeed the website has been shutdown and it resurrection has been this "tug of war" can't a hard copy format be designed for this permanent registration to aid frustrated trainees to successfully register as was done in the case of the induction registration and the licensing exams registration?

Hon. Minister, almost all trainees who took part in the licensing believe strongly that there is an unhealthy "conspiracy theory" between the council and your outfit to prevent eligible and competent citizens from gaining employment (public and private) and livelihood on the alter of this frivolous website shutdown hypothesis. Mr. Minister our suspicion is borne out of the fact that the registrar has been in acting position for longtime and this certainly makes him incapable of taking critical decisions concerning the council without first consulting you nor your outfit; Secondly, it is a public knowledge that about two years after the dissolution of the council's board, the council has not had a new board ( https://citinewsroom.com/2018/08/22/allied-health-professions-council-still-without-a-board-after-18-months/) and for that matter the ministry headed by your good self has been virtually running the affairs of the council with the help of the acting registrar. Hon. I find it difficult to understand why after enacting the law in 2013 the needed Legislative Instrument (LI) has not been laid before parliament to give the law the needed force and legitimacy to enhance the work of the council.

Mr. Minister, it is the cry of these innocent Allied Health trainees that you intervene to ensure that sanity prevails at council, it is also our plea that you either appoint a new substantive registrar or elevate the current registrar to a substantive position, to this end it is also their prayer that a board be constituted to ensure smooth operations of the council, Hon. Minister it is an open secret that the actions of the council just as other councils is impeded and hampered by lack of Legislative Instrument which is supposed to operationalize act 857 of 2013 since it enactment six years ago; it is a humble request by all that your outfit will lay the needed Ll in parliament to "arm" the law to work appropriately. It is also the call of many if not all that the work of the council be decentralized to at least the various regional capitals to ease the traumatic burden of members of the council having to travel to Accra anytime one wants to transact any business with the council.

Mr. Minister, You are the last hope of the trainees , and it is their prayer that you would salvage them from this deplorable state of affairs.

Best Regards
Shaibu Issifu
Concerned Citizen
[email protected]