The Medical and Dental Council (DMC) has inducted 120 newly qualified physician assistants and certified registered anaesthetists into the profession
The inductees were trainees from the College of Health, Central University College, Garden City and Presbyterian universities, Narh-Bita College, the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, 37 Military Hospital and the University of Development Studies Anesthesia schools.
Dr Eli Kwasi Atikpui, the Registrar of the DMC, after conducting a roll-call of the inductees, handed them over to Dr Eric Asamoah, the Chairman of the Eight Board of the Council, who led them in the swearing of the Physician Assistant and Certified Registered Anesthetists’ Oath.
The Oath charges practitioners, among other things, to uphold the tenets of patient autonomy, beneficence, ensuring no-malfeasance and justice, and also learn to share and expand their knowledge within the profession.
Dr Asamoah gave a little history about the profession, saying practitioners were trained to provide medical services especially in areas where there were no doctors and also to be team players in hospitals to assist in providing quality care to patients.
He said the role of those group of health practitioners had grown in recent times leading to the expansion of their training from the traditional universities to the private ones.
Dr Asamoah said the MDC’s regulation of the professionals was, therefore, crucial to maintain professionalism and quality and bring out the best for both patients and the practitioners themselves.
He congratulated the inductees for their successful passage and urged them to be diligent in their work, respecting the views of others and ensuring the regular upgrading of their professional knowledge in order to be abreast of modern trends of medicine and healthcare.
Brigadier General Ralph Ametepe, the Director General of the Ghana Armed Forces Health Services, led the inductees to recite the National Pledge and urged them to imbibe the words and keep them in their hearts in order to remain loyal to their country and Africa in general.
