The Medical and Dental Council, Ghana, has inducted 295 Physician Assistants and Qualified Anaesthetists, who have undergone training and met all requirements of the Council.
The newly qualified inductees from various training institutions across the country have passed their licensure examination and will soon be posted for a mandatory one-year internship.
The Physician Assistants would augment and fill the gaps at health facilities, diagnose and administer medical, oral, and anesthesia to patients.
Dr. Divine Nanyubala, Registrar of the Council, urged the inductees to be responsible and uphold the ethics of the profession as human lives had been entrusted in their care.
He said: “From today, a greater responsibility lies in your care of patients and this role is between life and death. Having met the basic training requirement, the Council will supervise your basic training and formally admit you into the profession. You will be eligible for permanent registration only after you have met the standards.”
Dr Constance Adoyobo, Member of the 10th Board of the Medical and Dental Council, advised the professionals to stay within their limits and refrain from indulging in malpractices that were outside their areas of competence.
She said: “You may be exposed to a variety of tasks or procedures which may not necessarily fall in your scope, the caution here is to observe and not to be tempted to go beyond your limit.”
“Do not present yourself as possessing leaders or training you do not have to the detriment of your patients, develop a cordial and respectful relationship with your seniors, and consult your supervisors whenever in doubt,” she added.
Dr. Hafez Adam, Director for External Health Cooperation, at the Ministry of Health (MOH), said professional negligence, improper conduct, and unethical behavior of medical professionals being recorded at health facilities were unacceptable.
“ The people who swore their professional oaths and committed themselves to serve us in our most vulnerable states are now abusers,” he stated, saying, in line with the Ministry’s commitment to ensure professionalism and accountability, the Ministry had developed and launched the scope of practice guidelines for Physician Assistants to ensure that they practiced within the competency level conferred by their training.
Dr Adam was hopeful that the development of the supervision model would be the Council’s top priority activity for 2024 to ensure the quality of internships of Physician Assistants and effective implementation of the guidelines.
The Director for External Health Cooperation said as the sector was trying to meet its responsibility to deliver on its mandate of universal health care, the caliber of professionals who could deliver would be needed.
Dr Adam noted that most districts did not have doctors so, the posting of Physician Assistants was necessary to augment and fill the gaps.
