Local exams for foreign-trained doctors necessary to assess ‘contextual competencies’ – Dr. Banyubala

The Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr. Divine Banyubala, has refuted claims that the Dental and Medical Council and other health delivery regulatory institutions make it unnecessarily difficult for health practitioners trained outside the country to practice in Ghana.

According to him, a local examination is required for foreign-trained health PR actioners who wish to practice in Ghana to ensure that all of such persons meet “the contextual competencies” required to practice medicine in Ghana.

Speaking on the Point of View on Citi TV, to mark 60 years of medical education in Ghana, Dr. Divine Banyubala further explained that from a health regulator’s perspective, every doctor is a potential patient, hence the need to ensure individuals conversant with health delivery in Ghana should be allowed to practice.

He added that exposure to sophisticated equipment in health for an individual trained outside is not a justifiable reason enough for the practice of healthcare delivery in Ghana.

“Professional practice in general and medicine is a privilege. There’s no inherent right to the practice of any profession… Here, we require that if you are at the level of a specialist, and you come in you take a local exam to be sure that you meet the contextual competencies that we require for the Ghanaian patient.”

“For professional regulators, we have competency level, the mere fact that we have a need does not mean we should sacrifice quality. As I sit here, I am a potential patient, so someone having my license, I must be sure that I am happy to collapse in front of the person.”

Ghana capable of training 3,000 doctors annually – Medical and Dental Council Registrar

The Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana, Dr. Divine Banyubala, also said that the country is in a position to train 3,000 doctors annually.

“One of our surest bets as a country is not gold, silver, or diamond. It is the quality of the Ghanaian trained doctors,” he said on The Point of View on Citi TV.

As a regulator, he said his outfit has been working to boost Ghana’s competitive advantage in this area.

“We think that we need to build on these 60 years of solid local quality medical education. To be able to do that, we need to deal with the issues of the constraints that we have,” Dr. Banyubala said.

As Ghana prepares to celebrate 60 years of medical education, one of the issues he cited was the lack of basic infrastructure.

“The medical school is in Korle bu as a temporary measure and since 1962, it has still been temporary,” he noted as an example.