Deputy Minister for Health, Alexander Kodwo Kom Abban has admonished 220 Ghanaian medical trainees who have returned to the country after seven years of training in Cuba, to accept postings anywhere in Ghana.
Speaking at a ceremony organized by the Scholarship Secretariat to hand over the 220 Cuban medical trainees to the Ministry of Health at the University of Ghana Business School, the deputy Minister said accepting postings across Ghana will act as a sign of respect to the Ghanaian people whose taxes have ensured the successful completion of their studies in Cuba.
He reminded the Cuban trainees of the Hippocratic Oath which hammers on helping, caring, protecting and saving the lives of all manner of persons irrespective of their social class.
He noted “All manner of persons are, as far as Ghana is concerned, populated and distributed within the territory of Ghana and that is where the challenge arises. Some of your colleagues did not want to come to Ghana and they indeed bolted away. You have decided to come to Ghana and we thank you for that”.
“But having done that, don’t come and say that you want Accra. As for that village where you come from yourself, you don’t want to go there. We skew the distribution of doctors in the country if we do that and we cannot achieve universal health coverage with that attitude,” the Deputy Minister for Health said.
He urged the medical officers to remain committed to their call and be willing to offer a helping hand to anyone in need.
The 220 medical officers trained in Cuba left the shores of Ghana in May, 2012 and returned to Ghana on August 10, 2019, bringing their seven years of studies in Cuba to a successful end.