The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has called for stronger and interconnected health regulatory institutions in Africa, capable of collectively addressing emerging challenges.
He said health regulatory agencies should be capable of sharing information, verifying practitioners’ credentials, among others, in order to build a robust health system for the continent.
He said the objective was not to create a single regulator for Africa, but to build an effective regulatory infrastructure that would enable national regulators to work together.
Mr Bagbin, also a former Minister of Health, credited with a major hospitals retooling project, made the call at the closing ceremony of the 28th Annual International Conference of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) held in Accra on August 26.
It was hosted by the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana on the theme: “Responsive Regulation for Safer Communities Towards Universal Health Coverage”.
The conference brought together regulators, policymakers, educators, health professionals and development partners from across Africa and beyond to deliberate on contemporary issues affecting health professional regulation.
Regulators
Mr Bagbin called on regulators to develop systems that were inclusive, fair, transparent and responsive while maintaining professional standards and protecting the public.
“The regulator must be capable of acting with extraordinary speed without abandoning care, safety, ethics and accountability,” he said.
He cautioned that although technology facilitated information exchange, not all information should be shared without limitations, adding that there must be a sound legal basis for information sharing, while privacy and data protection requirements were respected.
In view of legislation, the Speaker called for stronger post-legislation scrutiny to determine whether laws establishing regulatory bodies remained fit for purpose.
Office complex
Mr Bagbin also called on the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to ensure that proposed amendments to Part Two of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857), and its draft legislative instrument were presented to Parliament before the end of the year.
He said the amendments would help enhance the performance of the regulatory councils.
He further urged the Health Minister to engage the Ministry of Finance to expedite action to ensure that the councils’ Internally Generated Funds were uncapped.
He also called for the release of additional funding for Phase Two of the Council’s Head Office Complex and Specialist Training Centre to enable the project to be completed on schedule.
The Speaker further announced that he was prepared to advocate enough funding among African legislators to ensure that critical regulatory institutions were properly resourced.
Commitment
Medical regulatory councils at the conference expressed commitment to actively communicate the role of medical councils, strengthen inclusive regulation and regional harmonisation, build regulatory science, leadership and data infrastructure, strengthen crisis-responsive regulatory readiness, particularly for fragile and humanitarian settings, and deepen cooperation among member councils and with partners.
They also called on regional and continental bodies, including the African Union, to support harmonised regulatory standards and shared data systems while respecting the sovereignty of individual countries.
Practical changes
The President of AMCOA, Professor Joel Okullo, said the commitments adopted at the conference should not remain aspirations but should translate into practical changes when delegates returned to their respective countries.
He called on stronger regulatory bodies to support weaker institutions to develop their capacity, as some regulatory bodies remained severely under-resourced, with some reportedly operating with only one or two personnel while regulatory institutions were completely absent in some countries.
The Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, urged delegates to maintain the spirit of collaboration beyond the conference, stating that patient safety had no borders and that regulatory cooperation should, therefore, extend across national boundaries.
