Dr Henry Lawson (middle) flanked by members of the society
The Society of Family Physicians of Ghana (SOFPOG), a member of the World Organisation of Family Doctors, has called on corporate bodies and other funding agencies to support the training of family physicians in Ghana.
According to the society, although family physicians are integral to the healthcare delivery system of the country, very few doctors branch into the field after completing their medical training.
Currently, the country has only 55 family physicians although ideally, every family should have a family physician to handle primary health needs and only refer when the need arose.
“Family medicine, which is a relatively new specialty, is unable to attract a significant number of medical graduates, the resultant fall out has led to fragmented care, higher costs and dissatisfaction among patients,” Dr Henry Lawson, a family physician, said.
Dr Lawson, who also doubles as the president of the World Organisation of Family Doctors, African region, made the call during a free health screening exercise at the Methodist Church Korle-Gonno to mark the 2018 World Family Doctor Day commemoration themed ‘A Family Doctor For Every Family’.
He explained that by supporting the training of family physicians, which could be in the form of scholarships, provision of logistics for training and incentives for family physicians, one would save cost as the need to see several other specialists would be reduced.
The society further called on the Medical & Dental Council, Health Facilities Regulatory Agency and other regulatory bodies to revise the criteria for licensing health facilities that provide primary care to have their general practitioners trained in family medicine.
They further urged the public to be cautious about purchasing drugs marketed in vehicles, market places and various electronic media as the safety of the medications cannot be guaranteed.
“There is the need to integrate traditional medicine and orthodox medicine where traditional practitioners would be trained, licensed and regulated. We are calling on the Minister of Health and the Director General of the Ghana Health Service to consider this with urgency,” he said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri