Three healthcare professionals have petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to terminate the appointment of Mathew Yaw Kyeremeh as the Acting Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA).

According to them, the current acting registrar does not possess the constitutional qualification to occupy the position at the agency, which is an important entity under the Ministry of Health.

In a joint petition copied to the Chairman of the Health Select Committee of Parliament, Minister of Health and the General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, the petitioners, Kwasi Andoh, (MPH); Dr. Gordon Appiah and Dr. John Poku, claimed that Mr. Kyereme does not have the qualification to occupy the agency, which should be “manned by seasoned health professionals with extensive managerial experience.”

The main function of HeFRA as outlined in the Health Institutions and Facilities Act 829, (2011) Part 1 Section 4 is to “receive, consider and approve applications for licences, inspect and license facilities intended for the provision of public and private health care services.

It is also to “regulate and monitor activities in a practice to determine the adequacy and standard of health care provided; collaborate with any other person or authority to maintain professional standards in a practice/”

Per Section 100 of the Health Institutions and Facilities Act 829 (2011), “The Registrar shall be a practitioner with considerable administrative and managerial experience or training.”

Based on this, the petitioners are appealing to the president to remove the current registrar as he is not even a health professional.

“Ghana has numerous and qualified health professionals of all backgrounds and specialties and we know that His Excellency can find one amongst them to head this important Agency,” the petition pointed out.

“We very well understand that the current registrar is only in an “Acting” position, but we believe that the nature of the position is so sensitive and technical that even those who are made to act must meet the basic constitutional requirement,” it added.

The petitioners noted that HeFRA has over the past 10 years suffered a lot of administrative and financial abuses hence, “the necessary attention and support should be given to the agency that regulates the quality of our healthcare in order to protect the public.”