The Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation of North America (GPSF) concluded its 5th Annual meeting at the Ghana Embassy in Washington DC on Sunday April 29th, 2007. The meeting was noteworthy for a number of reasons. The foundation has been active in supporting the postgraduate training of medical doctors in Ghana for the last 5 years.

Individual members of the foundation have been active in visiting Ghana since the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) was established in 2002 by an act of parliament. Many have been made Fellows of the GCPS and have joined the college as members of the ever growing external faculty. They have joined with their Ghana –based colleagues to enrich the training being offered to Ghanaian trained specialists. The Foundation has also become a focal point for many volunteer medical activities conducted in Ghana by numerous non-profit organizations headed by Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians alike. These include Dr. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei’s Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine (FOCOS) which performs life saving surgeries in Ghana and around the world; Dr. James Aikins’ International Healthcare Volunteers (IHCV) who focus on Women and Childrens’ Health in Cape Coast and Prof. Ulzen’s Edward A. Ulzen Memorial Foundation (EAUMF) which brings a wide range of students and specialists in all health disciplines to Elmina and Cape Coast in an education and capacity building exercise. All of these and other physician inspired organizations are providing free service in Ghana and supporting the education of physicians and healthcare workers directly or indirectly.

At this year’s meeting HE Dr. Bawuah-Edusei Ghana’s Ambassador to the USA delivered a stimulating opening address on “brain circulation” in which he proposed numerous options to ensure that the country’s intellectual wealth continued to play an active role in its development irrespective of the current location of any Ghanaian professional willing to contribute to the nation building effort.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Cancer awareness in Africa- Early Diagnosis saves lives”. The plenary for the scientific session was given by Dr. Rose Anorlu of Medical College of the University of Lagos, who is an alumnus of the University of Ghana Medical School. It was made resoundingly clear that cancer is major killer in Ghana and Africa and that poor access to early diagnosis and the high cost of medical treatments continued to represent obstacles to the identification and treatment of these serious causes of mortality.

Dr. James Aikins, Assoc. Professor at University of New Jersey Medical School and Professor A.O. Mireku - Boateng of Howard University Medical School respectively provided lectures on common male and female cancers. Other speakers were Prof. Robert Dewitty of Howard University who spoke on Breast Cancer. In addition, Prof. Allan Winters and Dr. Cagler Cozden of the World Bank led discussions on research being done on the brain drain and invited the foundation to join in the study.

Melissa Ho, a PhD candidate from University of California at Berkeley presented her work on a model of Information Technology deployment for the health service in Ghana. She demonstrated a new web –based program which will allow doctors in remote regions to seek consultations on cases from specialist physicians in and outside Ghana on the network. This system will make it possible for numerous physicians to work together on difficult cases without regard for their geographic location.

The conference was concluded with a very well attended fund raising dinner and dance at Adom Villa in Maryland where the outgoing president Dr. Kwasi Debra, Medical Director of Ultimacare in Washington DC, introduced the incoming President, Professor Thaddeus Ulzen, who is Chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at The University of Alabama. The out-going president offered his continued support to the new leadership group which includes, Dr. George Ofori –Amanfo as secretary, Dr. Jacqueline Owusu as Treasurer, Dr. Nana Coleman Co-ordinator of Trainees and Professor A. O. Mireku- Boateng, Chair of the Urology Division at Howard Medical School as Vice-President. All Ghanaian physicians and healthcare professionals are invited to attend next year’s meeting which will be held from April 18-20th in Atlanta, GA. The theme for the 2008 conference is “Mental illness, Non-communicable diseases and Economic Development.”

For more information contact: www.ghanaphysicians.org

Prof. Thaddeus P. M. Ulzen, GPSF (North America) tulzen@yahoo.com