Skip to main content

157 foreign trained Ghanaian doctors fail Medical, Dental Council exams

A total of 157 out of 225 foreign trained Ghanaian doctors have failed the Medical and Dental Council (MDC)’s examination which grants them the licences to practice in Ghana.

Only 68, representing a 30.2 per cent pass rate, were able to prove their mettle in the examination conducted from February 22, 2019, to March 2, 2019, and results released last week.

A total of 157 out of 225 foreign trained Ghanaian doctors have failed the Medical and Dental Council (MDC)’s examination which grants them the licences to practice in Ghana.

Candidates who failed have the opportunity to register afresh and re-sit the examination involving multiple choice and problem-solving sessions as well as orals.

Some candidates who failed the February 2019 examination told the Ghanaian Times yesterday that they suspected foul play, alleging that the Council intentionally failed them in order to make more money from the re-sit.

However, MDC Registrar, Dr Eli Atukpui, when contacted over the matter, refuted the allegation, saying the results could not be manipulated as they went through rigorous processes and validated by examination committees, made up of level headed practitioners, who would not risk their reputation.

He revealed that the failure rate had been so for the past 19 years, as more than 50 per cent of foreign-trained candidates, who sat the examination, failed each year.

He said the highest pass rate of 48 per cent was recorded in November 2017 with 139 candidates while the lowest pass rate was recorded in February the same year in which 180 candidates were examined.

Ghanaians trained as doctors in Cuba and Venezuela, he said performed better.

The major cause of the failure, Dr Atukpui revealed was that the candidates had poor knowledge in the various disciplines in the medical field including basic sciences, a claim which was corroborated by examiner’s reports shown the Ghanaian Times.

This, he said stemmed from the practice where some of the foreign medical schools admitted students with poor West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results and others who studied General Arts, Visual Arts and Home Economics instead of the General Sciences.

Some of the WASSCE results slips used to secure the admissions, sighted by the Ghanaian Times showed a string of Ds, Es and Fs and were even inadmissible for general university programmes in Ghana, talk less of Medicine.

Dr Atukpui gave a portion of the blame to the foreign universities who did not seek the interpretation of applicants’ results as well as agents who motivated by monetary gains, continued to link the ‘weak’ students to the universities.

Some of the foreign universities, he said, had the advanced equipment but the instructors and lecturers were not up to the task or were hindered, in some cases, by language difference.

Asked if the examination was backbreaking, he said in 2015, a trial examination was conducted for 30 medical students at the University of Ghana, at a short notice but all passed.

He said the Council, was only ensuring that half-baked doctors were not licensed and handed over the lives of innocent people adding that, the MDC would continue to insist on standards.

Dr Atukpui said the council, as part of efforts to reduce the failures, had advised parents to cross-check the background of foreign universities, before they enrolled their wards.

He advised the foreign-trained doctors, to sit up and learn to enable them pto ass. To those desiring to study in the foreign countries, he said they should make the right choices.

Dr Atukpui assured the public that the doctors, licensed were qualified to give health care.



Source: Ghanaian Times

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Invest your profits back into farming - COCOBOD boss to Cocoa Farmers

Joseph Boahen Aidoo is Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has charged cocoa farmers to be business minded in operating their farms and to partake fully in the various programmes introduced by COCOBOD to ensure good farm yields and to increase profits. "Good farming practices, like pruning, the timely application of fertilizers and proper pests control are essential at all times," he said. Joseph Boahen Aidoo stated this while interacting with farmers in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, on the first day of his week-long tour of cocoa farms across the county. He was accompanied by the Deputy Chief Executive of Operations at COCOBOD, Dr Emmanuel Opoku, as well, as Directors and Research Scientists from COCOBOD. The tour is aimed at assessing the level of farmer participation in the various farm productivity improvement programmes implemented by COCOBOD; it is also...

Smoke ‘wee’ as much as you want – Muramura Chief to youth

The town is also known for growing of ‘wee’ on a large scale The Chief of Muramura in the Kwahu South District, Nana Gyaakye Amo II, says residents of his town especially the youth are free to smoke marijuana (wee) as much as they want. According to the 83-year-old chief, he’s powerless to deal with the menace and once the youth will not come to smoke the banned substance in his house he cares less and is minding his own business. Nana Gyaakye Amo II, made the shocking comments in an interview with Kasapa News on the back of the unfortunate incident in his town where angry residents on Sunday lynched and set fire into the body of a 29-year-old known ‘wee’ smoker Kofi Sammy for killing a 28-year-old pregnant Woman Alimatu Karim and cooking parts of her mutilated body for food. The town is known for growing of ‘wee’ on a large scale with most of the youth puffing the banned substance at will. When Kasapa News presenter Bonohene Baffuor Awuah asked Nana Gyaakye...

Stop running commentary on our investigations - A-G warns EOCO

Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, the Attorney-General has asked the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to open itself to the public but to avoid running commentary on its investigations. According to her speaking in public about their investigations could only frustrates their efforts as well as give out too much information to criminals to change their mode of operations. “Criminals are always waiting to cover their tracks and therefore coming out to speak constantly about a matter, makes it easier for them to cover up and therefore frustrating the outcome of the investigations,” she stressed. She advised that the statutory body should avoid following rumours and suspicions so as not to not embarrass themselves. Ms Akuffo said this at EOCO’s maiden national stakeholders’ forum in Accra aimed at interacting with stakeholders and share information on cases investigated, prosecutions and convictions obtained as well as recoveries and confiscations made. ...