According to the Council’s Registrar, Dr. Divine Banyubala, about 30% of affected practitioners are struggling with schizophrenia, while others are dealing with personality disorders and depression.

A worrying number are also battling addictions to substances such as tramadol, morphine, pethidine, and heroin, with some engaging in multiple drug use.

“A lot of them have psychiatric conditions. About 30% are struggling with schizophrenia, others have personality disorders, depression, or substance abuse and addiction issues,” Dr Banyubala disclosed.

To address the situation, he said the Council has set up a Practice Committee, which works through a Health Assessment Panel made up of senior medical professionals. The panel evaluates affected practitioners and recommends appropriate interventions.

Dr Banyubala noted that early intervention has been highly effective, allowing many practitioners to recover and return to work.

“The good news is that with early treatment, about 80% can return to full functioning. Unfortunately, a few are too far gone and can never come back—they are beyond redemption,” he explained.

He added that doctors who fail to comply with treatment or are deemed unfit to practice have their licenses suspended until they fully recover and can safely resume their duties.

The Council emphasised that this approach aims to rehabilitate struggling practitioners while protecting patients and safeguarding the integrity of the medical profession.

Source: Emma Ankrah

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Data from the Council indicates that between 2024 and the third quarter of 2025, four individuals were arrested for practising medicine without a licence.

The suspects — Kate Baidoo of Osag Medical Centre (Nsakena), Ebenezer Koomson of E & E Medical Centre (Gomoa Afransi), Innocent Tagbovi of Mighty Clinic (Madina), and Ebenezer Sarpong of Goodcare Medical Centre (Swalaba Bukom) — were apprehended during undercover operations conducted between September 2024 and August 2025.

Several others are currently under investigation, with cases expected to be prosecuted in court.

The Council also uncovered incidents of forged academic certificates submitted by individuals seeking authorisation to practise as medical professionals in Ghana.

Speaking at a press briefing, Registrar of the Council, Dr. Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, said the problem was widespread and cut across different regions and health-related fields. He assured the public that the Council is committed to tackling the menace.

To help restore confidence, Dr. Banyubala announced that the MDC is collaborating with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to roll out a practitioner name tag and stamp policy by 2026.

The system will require healthcare providers to display official identification, including their names, photographs, and professional designations.

“Detecting quackery is very difficult,” he explained. “That is why we are working with the NHIA to ensure that any professional in a healthcare setting is properly tagged. The aim is to reduce patient confusion, since not everyone in a hospital environment is a medical doctor.”

The MDC believes the initiative will not only curb quack practices but also protect patients’ safety and enhance trust in Ghana’s healthcare system.

Source: Adomonline

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The GACRA said despite several complains about the unfair treatment from its current regulator, the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) of Ghana, the Association’s quest to have a separate regulatory body had yielded no results.

The Association, through its President, James Nwisangra, made the call at its fifth Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Scientific session in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional capital.

The AGM, chaired by the Tongraan, Naab Kugbilsong Nanlebegtang, Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, was on the theme: “Sustaining the practice of Anaesthesia in Ghana amidst the brain drain; policy direction and regulation.”

The meeting afforded the Association the opportunity to take stock and inventory of its programme of activities, reflect over their performance, identify their achievements, shortfalls and to improve on their significant contribution to healthcare delivery in Ghana.

Mr Nwisangra said since the enactment of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act 857, among other issues, their regulator had refused to recognize the name; Certified Registered Anaesthetists (CRA).

Apart from that, he noted that the regulator also bluntly refused to open a separate register for the CRA and, therefore, appealed to the Ministry to create a separate Council for them.

“GACRA wishes to humbly request the Ministry to create a separate regulatory Council for CRAs, therefore, calling for amendment of Act 857. The amendment should take CRAs out of the MDC and position us in a better regulatory framework.

“CRAs are committed to carrying out their duties in a free and peaceful working and regulatory environment,” the Association’s President said.

Mr Nwisangra further bemoaned the “wrongful placement” of CRAs on the Single Spine Salary Structure, especially those at the district levels often overburdened with workload and frequent calls at night to attend to emergency cases.

He announced to members that the Ministry of Health had directed the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to review their salary placement and called on the FWSC and the employer to speed up the process, saying “We have been shortchanged for far too long.”

Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, in a speech read on his behalf, noted that the Ministry received several concerns from the GACRA and was working to have them addressed.

On the issue of regulation, he said the Ministry was engaging with key stakeholders to ensure that they got their regulatory body to practice within a framework that would improve their career as professionals.

The Sector Minister acknowledged that the magnitude of work done by the CRAs does not match their current placement on the salary structure, and as a result, the Ministry had officially communicated to the FWSC to undertake a job re-evaluation to correct the placement of the CRAs on the salary scale.

Mr Agyeman-Manu noted that poor conditions of service was one of the major problems CRAs faced, and said processes were underway to have it resolved.

“As part of the Ministry’s desire for an improved Conditions of Service for the CRAs, FWSC and all other stakeholders have been put together to ensure a successful completion of the process.

“In addition, the Ministry wishes to assure GACRA that, the 2021 batch of students who have successfully completed both professional and their license examinations would be converted as soon as possible,” he said.

The Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Dormaa Central in the Bono Region, appealed to executives of the GACRA and its entire membership to continue to engage the Ministry and its stakeholders on their concerns for redress.

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At the induction of 508 newly qualified doctors in Accra last Saturday, the Chairman of the MDC, Prof. P.K. Nyame, said the cost of medicines had made quality health care a luxury and out of reach for many people, especially the aged and the poor.

He, therefore, urged the government to vigorously support local manufacturers to enable them to produce drugs on a large scale to bring down the cost of medicines.

He also stressed the need for an urgent review of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cater for more medicines.

“Despite our economic difficulties, there is the need to review the scope of coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme and other financial aspects of the scheme. Most importantly, providers should not be placed in a position to withdraw their services, with serious implications for the aged and the poor,” he said.

Induction

The newly qualified medical and dental practitioners were graduates from the University of Cape Coast (UCC) School of Medical Sciences, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), University for Development Studies (UDS) School of Medicine, and foreign-trained doctors who passed the MDC’s registration examination.

In the presence of hundreds of family members and well-wishers at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), the new doctors took the sacred Hippocratic Oath administered by Prof. Nyame.

The newly qualified medical and dental practitioners at the ceremony.

The colourful ceremony was attended by notable personalities, including a former Chief Justice, Justice Georgina Theodora Wood; Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; Chief of Air Staff of the Ghana Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Frederick Asare Bekoe, and a Deputy Minister of Health, Mahama Asei Seini.

Abuse of patients

Prof. Nyame advised the newly qualified doctors to be professional and adhere to the highest standards, especially when dealing with patients.

For instance, he said, the fact that doctors had a professional duty to access the bodies of their patients did not give them the right to abuse them.

“For those who are not aware of the ‘Me too Movement’, it has come about in the West to protest against sexual abuse of women in the workplace. read carefully, and do not get accused of alleged unsolicited sexual liaison,” he cautioned.

Rural areas

Mr Seini appealed to the new doctors to serve the country wherever they were needed and not refuse postings to rural areas.

He said a doctor had a sacred duty to serve everyone, irrespective of location, gender, race, religion, political affiliation, social status and ethnicity.

The Deputy Minister of Health further urged them to be mindful of their conduct and serve diligently with the utmost duty of care to avoid any negligent act which could have dire consequences on patients.

“There are daily reports of professional negligence, improper conduct and unethical behaviour by our doctors, dentists, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and so on.

“The very people who openly swore their professional oaths and committed themselves to serve us in our most vulnerable state are now our abusers. This is unacceptable,” he said.

Continuous training

The Registrar of the MDC, Dr Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, said doctors had a sacred responsibility of deciding between life and death and, therefore, it was paramount for them to continuously upgrade their knowledge and skills.

He announced that in furtherance of the goal by the MDC to upgrade the skills of doctors, the Ministry of Health, with donor funding from the World Bank, was working on the construction of a specialist training centre to boost the training of doctors and dentists.

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The situation, which is caused by inequitable distribution of Senior Specialists, is even worse in five regions that are without a single Senior Specialists in the very limited health facilities there.

The situation puts healthcare seekers in those regions in a dire situation as the absence of the Specialist puts them in a precarious situation when the need for those Specialists arises.

The Medical and Dental Council currently has over ten thousand registered Medical and Dental practitioners and the Greater Accra and Asante regions alone have 83% of the total number.

Absence of the registered Senior Specialists in eight out of the sixteen regions of the country, run counter to the universally accepted Sustainable Development goal 3 which is targeted at good health ‘’to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’’

Speaking at at the Medical Training and Practice Conference of the Medical and Dental Council, Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, made the urgent call to the government.

In his emotional address, Dr Banyubala said
“Worryingly, half of our 16 regions in particular Ahafo, Oti, North East, Upper East, Western, Upper West, Western North, and Savannah regions have not registered a single Specialist.”

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The suspect supposedly defrauded some foreign-trained doctors under the pretext of helping them to pass the local registration examination required to practice in Ghana.

The suspect, Bright Afful, who also claims to be a pastor, was arrested at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.

Another suspected quack doctor, Samuel Owusu, 57, has been arrested at the Adentan New Site in Accra for allegedly practicing medicine illegally and undertaking illegal abortions.

Afful was nabbed after almost three years of an undercover investigation undertaken by a team of the MDC.

Briefing journalists in Accra, the Registrar of the MDC, Dr Divine N. Banyubala, said Afful charged his victims between GH¢1,000 to GH¢20,000 to use his supposed links with some top officials of the MDC to secure questions for the alleged victims ahead of the examination.

Afful is said to have also claimed he could influence the outcome of the examination results of the foreign-trained doctors after the examination.

The MDC’s undercover investigator was charged GH¢10,000 when he posed as a foreign doctor who had failed the MDC examination and Afful promised to change his results for him.

Allegations

Dr Banyubala said the MDC had received a number of reports about some individuals collecting money from some foreign-trained doctors who applied to write the council’s registration assessment examinations.

He said after about two-and-a-half years of undercover investigation, Afful was identified as a key person behind the dealings.

It was also found that Afful also used some of the foreign-trained doctors for medical outreaches and health screening programmes in rural communities in Cape Coast, Akoti and Agona Swedru, all in the Central Region.

The unlicensed foreign-trained doctors diagnosed patients and prescribed medication for them against the laws of medical practice in Ghana.

Abortions

Owusu, the supposed ‘abortion specialist’, operated from the Kwaowus Pharmacy, which he owned, behind a plywood curtain that served as a room within the pharmacy, charging GH¢500 for his service.

During police interrogations, Owusu claimed to have received his training in medicine in Nigeria but his certificate raised doubts because it was issued by a private hospital and not a health training institution.

The pharmacy has since been closed down.

Reforms

Dr Banyubala said the MDC was working on a number of policy reforms in line with professional regulatory best practices to ensure that all doctors working in Ghana met the minimum competency standards to provide safe quality healthcare services in the public interest.

Some of the reforms, he said, would include the commencement of objective structured clinical examination for foreign doctors in 2022 and common national licensing examinations for both locally and foreign-trained doctors, dentists and physician assistants in 2025.

Some of the foreign medical schools, he said, had been found to have admitted students with poor West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, while some enrolled students who studied General Arts (Literature in English), Visual Arts and Agricultural Science.

He said data available to the council suggested that foreign-trained doctors who failed the council’s examination were candidates who had poor knowledge in the various disciplines in medicine, including the basic sciences and basic clinical skills.

The low standards of teaching in some of the foreign medical and dental training institutions, he said, had resulted in some of the students failing the registration assessment examinations over a number of attempts.

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“Some candidates have written more than 10 times and still failed. As a consequence and in furtherance of improved training and practice standards in the public interest, the board of the council has taken a decision in consonance with professional best practice to limit the number of times a candidate can write to five,” he said.

Consequently, he said a candidate who had attempted the registration examinations five times would not be eligible to participate in the examinations of the council from this year.

These persons, according to the Medical and Dental Council, were practicing without the requisite licenses and technical skills.

The suspects were said to be operating in a facility at East Legon and Asylum Down in Accra, while the quack doctors were arrested in several parts of the country.

The Acting Registrar of the Council, Dr Divine N. Banyubala, made the disclosure at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to him, the suspects have been granted bail after being arraigned.

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Dr Banyubala further warned persons practicing illegally to stop immediately, adding that their facilities have been closed down to ensure patient safety in accordance with law and in the interest of public health safety and wellbeing.