College of Physicians to train eight Emergency Specialists (Page 15)

THE Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) will begin training eight doctors as specialist emergency physicians to provide standard care for people in emergency situations.
The issue has become critical because as of now the country has no specialist emergency physician to provide standard care for people in emergency situations.
This means that accident and emergency centres, including the latest one installed at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, have no such specialist purposely trained to manage them.
This came out when the Daily Graphic spoke to the Rector of the GCPS, Professor Paul Kwame Nyame, in Accra on plans by the college to train specialist emergency physicians locally to offer quality health care to Ghanaians.
Prof Nyame announced that a number of trainers from the University of Michigan at Ann Abbor and the University of New York, both in the US, as well as two Ghanaians who were working abroad, would take the doctors through the training and pointed out that facilities at the Accident and Emergency Centre at KATH would be used for the training.
He also added that there were some local medical professionals who were ready to support the team to organise the training programme successfully.
The rector said the doctors had already been interviewed and were waiting to begin lectures, adding that they would use three years for the first part of the programme and an additional two years for further training in specific areas in medicine.
The doctors, six males and two females, are from KATH, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH). They are between the ages of 29 and 35.
Prof Nyame explained that there was the need for specialist emergency physicians in the country’s hospitals, since different health problems presented similar symptoms for which physicians with the requisite training could easily provide accurate diagnosis.
He said to save lives, emergency situations needed urgent stabilisation which needed specialist attention. These included serious accidents which involved broken bones, appendicitis, liver and kidney failure, complicated child delivery and cardiac arrest.
The Rector said it was always better for a specialist emergency physician to examine a patient in such conditions before he or she was handled by other doctors.
The GCPS was established by an Act of Ghana's Parliament (Act 635 of 2003) with specific objectives to promote specialist education in medicine, surgery and related disciplines, promote continuous professional development in medicine, surgery and related disciplines, promote and co-ordinate education and research in medicine, surgery and related disciplines, contribute to the formulation of policies on sound health and public health generally.
In pursuance of these objectives, the college is required to: Organise and supervise specialist training, continuous professional development and support research in medicine, surgery and related disciplines; organise and conduct specialist examinations in medicine, surgery and related disciplines; prepare and publish journals and pamphlets on its own or in collaboration with other bodies or organisations; award diplomas, certificates and other professional distinctions; foster co-operation with other institutions with similar objectives and initiate and participate in activities and discussions aimed at sound health and the formulation of public policies on health.