Undergraduate medical education needs support – GMA

The Ghana Medical Association has called on government to consider providing full scholarships or grants to undergraduate medical students and help make medical education affordable to all.

They said the current situation suggests a gradual shift towards making medical education a preserve for the rich alone hence the need to provide such incentives for students.

This was contained in a press statement issued on Sunday and read to the press at Koforidua by Dr Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, President of the Association, at the end of their Fifth National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting.

The statement said currently almost all public medical schools in the country have made over 50 percent of their admissions fee paying ones with the School of Medical Science of the University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Dental School in the full fees payment category.

They alleged that currently most of the public medical schools charge GH¢7,000.00 per a student per annum for tuition alone and wondered how many workers in the country could afford such fees for their wards.

The Association said post graduate medical education in the country is also facing dwindling government support and called on the government to take a critical look at the role of local post graduate medical education in helping to reduce the brain drain in the medical field.

They called for a downward review of the recent increases in utility tariffs saying such high increases has eroded all the gains made by public sector workers from the 2013 salary increases.

The Association added their support to the position of the Trade Union Congress for the payment of all arrears due workers as a result of the current basic salary adjustment by the end of this year.

Source: GNA