2,769 newly qualified allied health graduates

About 2,769 newly qualified allied health graduates have been inducted and sworn-in by the Allied Health Professions Council of the Ministry of Health in Accra.

The graduates had completed various professional allied health programmes, including Doctor of Optometry; Doctor of Medical Laboratory Science; MPhil Medical Physics; MSc/BSc Dietetics; MSc/BSc Audiology; MSc Speech and Language Therapy; BSc Medical Laboratory Science and BSc Nutrition.
By their induction and professional oath swearing, they become properly inducted into the health profession to undergo their mandatory internship and also sign a social contract with the Ghanaian public as required by Section 10 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) 2.
The Board Chairman of Allied Health Professions Council, Professor Augustine Kyere, administered the oath of allied health professions to the graduates as well as inducted them.

Quacks in health delivery
In a speech read on his behalf, the Registrar of the Council, Dr Samuel Yaw Opoku, expressed concern about quacks who had invaded the health delivery system.
He said the harm being committed by those quacks could not be underestimated, pointing out that the Council with support of the governing board and the Health Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Health had been trying to weed out those charlatans from the society.
“Unfortunately however, the expected support from law enforcement agencies have not helped much to deal with the issue. Several cases reported to the police across the country appear dead for lack of prosecution. Our humble appeal is for the necessary support in this fight by swiftly dealing with the offenders to protect the unsuspecting members of the society from these criminals,” he appealed.
Dr Opoku further appealed to the public to report to the Council any suspicious activities of people who posed as allied health professionals for the necessary action.

Strong team
To the newly qualified health professionals, he charged them to work together with other health professionals to build a very strong health care team that would place the welfare of the clients and the people above all other interests.
He said they should be guided by a true sense of brotherliness, sense of nationhood and help build the nation to a state they could all be very proud of.
“Please you should endeavour to limit the use of strike actions and picketing as means to getting your grievances resolved,” he advised.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu underscored the important role of allied health professionals in health service delivery adding that, the health sector could not thrive without them.
He noted that the immeasurable role they played was clearly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when they all got involved in helping the nation fight the pandemic.
For his part, Prof Kyere urged the graduates to be attentive and asked questions while they were on internship.

Certificates
The graduates were presented with certificates. These certificates, which are provisional, is valid for one year and it qualifies them to undertake the mandatory 12-month internship/National Service Scheme programme which they are expected to start on December 5, 2022 and end on November 30, 2023.
On successful completion of the internship programme, they would be required to take and pass the Council’s professional Licensure Examination in December 2023 as a pre-requisite for permanent registration and licensing.