<<Print>>

The Medical and Dental Council (MDC) has called on the government to implement a policy that will help reduce the high cost of medicines in the country.

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.