The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) is seeking to attract Ghanaian medical professionals practising abroad to help address a shortage of specialist doctors and consultants affecting its operations.
Chief Executive Officer of UGMC, Dr Abdul-Samed Tanko, said the difficulty in recruiting and retaining specialists remained a major operational concern, limiting the centre’s ability to secure dedicated professionals across some medical fields.
Speaking on Joy News, Dr Tanko explained that the challenge reflected a wider national shortage of specialists, making it difficult for health facilities to distribute the available expertise to meet growing healthcare demands.
“No matter what you do, if you don’t have enough specialists and you are not able to retain them, it becomes a challenge. So it’s one of our operational concerns as a centre,” he said.
He noted that the shortage sometimes made it difficult for UGMC to recruit specialists who could focus exclusively on particular areas of medicine, despite efforts to strengthen its workforce.
“Sometimes in Ghana here, it’s difficult to share so many specialists around. So you can’t get dedicated specialists, but we are trying our best to get some to join us,” he said.
Dr Tanko said the centre was exploring opportunities to recruit medical specialists from abroad, with particular attention to Ghanaian doctors working overseas who might be willing to return home.
He indicated that attracting these professionals could help strengthen the centre’s specialist services and improve its capacity to meet operational requirements.
The recruitment drive comes as UGMC continues to grapple with the challenge of securing and retaining the specialised medical personnel needed to sustain its services.
Dr Tanko’s remarks highlight the broader difficulties facing Ghana’s healthcare system in ensuring an adequate distribution of specialist doctors across medical facilities.
