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General Secretary for the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Serebour is demanding further clarity on the quota system which the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is set to use to employ doctors and dentists in the country.

The Ghana Health Service has announced that it will adopt a quota system in employing medical doctors and dentists in the country.

The Director-General of the Service, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, added that the quota system will help check the practice where young doctors posted to rural areas reject such appointments.

Ghana’s doctor to patient ratio currently stands at one doctor to 8,000 patients a situation analysts have described as woefully inadequate.

The Director-General added that “this year, we have started interviewing doctors, we are not posting them anymore. We will not sit in Accra again and post any doctor.”

But according to Dr. Frank Serebour, there must be available structures and better conditions for the doctors and dentists who will be posted to the rural areas to work so that their families will benefit as those in urban areas and cities.

Speaking to Peacefmonline.com, Dr. Serebour averred that the quota system is not clear to them as there are still doctors and dentists who have not been posted to work after their interview; thus they have been in the house for a year after their housemanship.

“The quota system is not clear to us because we still have doctors who have not been posted to work after their interview and they have been in the house for a year after their Housemanship. The government should be bold to state that it cannot employ doctors anymore and so maybe after their Housemanship they can begin to write application letters for employment any hospital,” he stated.

He emphasized that “as it stands now, doctors are still in the house and the hospitals need them but the quota system is made in such a way that they cannot be employed. Many more doctors will come after those who are in the house because apart from the 4 state institutions training doctors and health workers, a lot of private institutions are also training young doctors and other health workers.”

Dr. Serebour feared that the quota system if not properly structured and implemented can promote brain drain in the country as many doctors and dentists will opt to travel abroad to work over there and there will be nobody in the health facilities to work.

He indicated that the government knows there is a possibility for brain drain to happen in the country with this quota system; hence, it is the reason the Director-General of Ghana Health Service cautioned against the possibility that the doctors may consider the option of working abroad.

“The government knows there is a possibility for brain drain and that is why they are cautioning against that the doctors should not think of considering the option to work abroad; then there should be proper way of applying the quota system and this should not be taken as though we are against the quota system,” he opined.

“We are not against quota system but the government should come clear on it so that we can understand the system because it looks to us that the government does not want to employ doctors anymore but they should apply after their Housemanship; if that is the case, they should be bold enough to say so,” he asserted.