The Medical and Dental Council (MDC) of Ghana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghanaian Doctors and Dentists Association UK (GDDA-UK) to primarily facilitate the process of registration of members of GDDA-UK who are desirous and willing to support the health system of Ghana.

This will be done by contributing to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate doctors and dentists and ensuring the provision of specialist and sub-specialist healthcare services; and health research collaboration with colleagues in Ghana.

The historic event took place at the 18th Annual Health Conference of the GDDA-UK in London on October 7, 2023.

Dr. Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) of Ghana and Dr. William Kedjanyi, President of GDDA-UK signed the agreement.

The MoU brings to fruition many years of discussions between the GDDA-UK executives and the Council regarding the bottleneck created by the credentialing and licensing process for UK-based Ghanaian physicians as well as other physicians with a vested interest in contributing to training, specialty and subspecialty service provision including organ/tissue transplantation procedures and health research collaboration.

The MoU will expedite the process and reduce the cost by fifty percent.

Another provision is a waiver of examination in certain special situations for select UK-based physicians.

This expedited process will be provided through membership with GDDA-UK. In addition, it will help to address GDDA-UK’s founding mandate to provide educational and faculty support to the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Present at the signing ceremony were Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriye, President of Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS), Prof. Samuel Debrah, Rector GCPS, Prof. Richard Adanu, Ag. Dean of University of Ghana Dental School, Prof. Sandra Hewlett, and the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick KumaAboagye.

Speaking just before the official signing of the MoU, Dr. Kedjanyi said the MoU will make it easier for GDDA-UK members to register with MDC Ghana so as to be able to offer quality and safe specialist and sub-specialist medical and dental services as well as supporting academic activities including teaching and research through the medical and dental schools and the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS).

The Registrar, Dr Banyubala, stated that harnessing diasporan resources and leveraging technology were at the core of the vision of the Council to boost the local training of doctors and dentists both at the general duty and specialist levels; quality and safe specialist service; and collaborative health research.

He explained that these are follow up actions from the consensus policy decisions that flowed from last year’s historic medical and dental training and practice conference organised by the Council as part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations.

He informed the conference that the Council was committed to the decentralisation of the training of doctors and dentists to suitable Regional and Municipal/ District hospitals as a means to dealing with issues of inequity in the distribution of doctors and dentists as well as access to specialist services to our people.

The Registrar stated that a similar MoU signed last year between the Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation for North America and the Council had started yielding tangible results.

He commended the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for starting postgraduate training in Holy Family Hospital, Techiman and Afia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Takoradi.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah said this historic event fitted into the Embassy and Government’s agenda of mobilising Ghanaians in the diaspora for national development.

He expressed his gratitude to the Registrar, Dr Banyubala and the Board of the Council for their vision and commitment that made this historic MOU a reality.

He also thanked the executives of the GDDA-UK for their perseverance and patience that made this event possible but charged them to work hard to ensure that the MoU yields the needed results.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr. Afriye affirmed the support of his Committee and Parliament for this visionary and historic event with the potential to position Ghana as the health tourism hub for West Africa.

Dr. Kedjanyi ended by thanking the dignitaries for making this long awaited goal a reality.