• Six months after writing a government exam, results are yet to be released
• A former deputy Health Minister has promised to follow up on the matter
About 400 foreign trained doctors have been left stranded for the last six months after the Medical and Dental Council failed to deliver results of an examination they took in February.
The plight of the group was raised by Randy Abbey, host of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana program on the Tuesday August 3, 2021 edition of his show.
“There are 400 Ghanaians who have gone out there to be trained as doctors, they have come here. Our rules suggest that you have to write an exam, they will be given the results in two weeks.
“For those who are successful, they will start working in the government system and so we are able to make use of these doctors. They sit an exam in February and we are in August.
“And this issue has been out there in the public domain and there is a bureaucracy in charge of health issues in this country, we don’t deserve to be told why we cannot make use of 400 medical doctors?” he quizzed.
A former deputy Health Minister and Member of the government COVID-19 taskforce, Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye, responding to Randy’s concern said he has also heard of the issue but had yet to see any official petition to that effect.
“I would follow it up, I know the folks at Medical and Dental Council, I will personally visit today, I will give you feedback,” Okoe-Boye added.
Under Ghana’s laws, when doctors trained abroad wish to practice back home, they are expected to take an exam by the Council before they are drafted into the public health system for some time even before being allowed to join the private sector.