The leadership of the Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA) has directed all its members to suspend the renewal of licenses with the Medical and Dental Council for the ensuing year 2023.

According to them, all physician assistants should not renew their licenses for the year 2023 until the Ministry of Health comes out with modalities of getting their own regulatory body through the amendment of the Health Regulations Bodies Act, 2023 (ACT 857) with the involvement of all the key stakeholders.

Physician Assistants (PAs) are middle-level cadre in the health service delivery machinery with a level of training apt and appropriate for the basic and essential healthcare needs of the people of Ghana.

According to them, the physician assistant is so indispensable that their work gives a good blend of clinical, preventive, promotional and administrative services at rural, urban and peri-urban communities especially, where human resources are scarce, thus making the physician assistant an epitome of versatility and efficiency in human resource crises.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, the Vice President of the Association, Emmanuel Kofi Nti said, the leadership of GPAA is highly aware of the legal implications of this decision to both practitioner and the employer but to stand by their directive to register their displeasure about the way the Medical and Dental Council has treated them since joining the Council over a decade ago.

He reiterated that the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Health as a matter of urgency get their own regulatory body through Act 2013 (ACT 857)

Mr Nti, therefore, advised their members not to renew their licenses with the Medical and Dental Council.

In the year 2010, the Ministry of Health directed the Medical and Dental Council to temporarily regulate the practice of the Physician Assistant cadre and this regulation was subsequently backed by law with the enactment of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (ACT 857).