The Ghana Medical and Dental Council has inducted the first batch of 235 Physicians Assistants into the Medical and Dental Council as full members to among others ease the frustrations they go through.
The physician assistants comprised Medical Assistants, Nurse Anaesthetists and Community Oral Health Officers and were drawn from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions while the remaining regions will also be inducted at a later date.
They hitherto practiced without regulations and not under any statutory body in the Ghana Health Service.
Inducting them in Tamale on Saturday, Dr. Kofi Adadey, Chairman of the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, urged them to abide by the general code of conduct of the profession to ensure acceptable or good comportment of members.
He said their actions and inactions will foster good clientele as well as enhance international and national recognition among members for the continual improvement and attainment of organizational objectives.
Dr. Adadey stated that per their membership, they were supposed to be liable to the Medical and Dental decree 1972 which states that council shall be concerned with medical and dental practitioners and responsible for securing in the public interest, the highest standards in the practice in Ghana.
He urged them to respect the laws of the land and avoid discussions of issues that may lead to law suits or bring the profession into disrepute adding, member’s responsibility covers the client, society, professional colleagues and him/herself.
Dr Abbey told them to be mindful of the dignity and respect of the client, avoid divulging information to third party and when clients have complaints, they should be patient and listen to them and be humble enough to apologize when the situation demanded.
He lauded the efforts of the physician assistants who he said were in the nooks and cranny of the country serving in the most deprived areas of the country combining clinical work with administration.
Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister, noted that the pivotal role played by the physician assistants during surgery was enormous saying that they were the unsung heroes of the nation’s healthcare delivery system.
He said the public stands to benefit from such a major policy decision of bringing them under the Medical and Dental Council hoping that their tract record would be brought to bear on their new groups to make them more efficient and effective.
“It is our expectation that this major step at regulating non-doctors will go a long way to improve the quality of care that is offered in our health facilities”, he said adding that improved quality of care protects the interest of health care consumers and patients.