Medical Schools Must Be Moved - Bagbin

The Minister of Health, Alban Bagbin is advocating the movement of medical schools from the Education ministry to the Health Ministry. Consultants at the teaching hospitals who are under the education sector receive less remuneration than their counterparts under the health sector due to different working conditions at the two sectors. The payment of allowances to the teaching hospital consultants is to help bring their remuneration at par with their colleagues at the health ministry. Health Minister Alban Bagbin believes moving the medical schools under the ministry of health will help solve the remuneration problem. It will also check the exodus of experts from the education sector to the health sector. �It is rather better for us to get the medical schools to operate under the Ministry of Health so that they earn the same conditions of service as their colleagues in the Ministry of Health� Hon. Bagbin said. But the President of the Ghana Medical Association Dr. Adusei Poku thinks the Health Minister is only passing the buck. �It is not new, the agreements are there and he has copies of all the appointment letters so if you cannot continue appointing them as consultants, you say so but so long as the contract exists and they work to provide extra service, then you must find ways of paying them�.