Ghana’s health sector has been identified as one with the weakest level of accountability, according to a Deputy Health Minister, Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu.
Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Association of Doctors in Residency (GADOR) in Kumasi, Mr. Gyedu stated that “health professionals do not want to be accountable”, thereby contributing to the rot in the system.
“If free senior high school education is possible then there is no reason why free residency cannot be possible. Of course it is possible but anything possible is not necessarily probable”.
“I tell you with all due respect and in all humility, the health sector is probably the sector with the weakest level of accountability and I hope my words will not be misconstrued”.
“There is a lot of rot generally and I say this with all the passion it deserves. The health sector professionals don’t want to be accountable and in this world you can never eat your cake and have it,” he pointed out.
He expressed hope that if corruption in health administration is reduced by 20 percent, the government will be able to embark on projects which will be beneficial to players.
“If we were to succeed in reducing the corruption, the leakages in the revenue flowing to the health sector by even 20 percent, free post-graduate studies can be not only possible but highly probable”, the Deputy Health Minister added.
Mr. Gyedu also raised issues about health professionals who exit the shores of Ghana after being trained from the tax-payers coffers.
“Sometimes it sounds pathetic that people who were trained by the money from the taxpayer, when they finish, would want to leave and chase greener pastures”.
“The question is, do we continue to financing you to go and serve people who have already gained the level we want to get too? If we are going to implement free residency, it will definitely not come for free”, Mr. Gyedu asserted.
The Ghana Association of Doctors in Residency (GADOR) will be the mouthpiece of all Residents currently enrolled in the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, West African College of Surgeons, West African College of Physicians and any other post-graduate Medical College legally recognized to provide clinical specialty training for Doctors and Dentists in the country.