A five-Year Strategic Plan of the Ghana Medical and Dental Council to lay out its future direction, performance and targets was on Wednesday launched in Accra. The 75-page document on the theme: "Guiding the Profession, Protecting the Public" was also to help the Council overcome its challenges in effectively fulfilling its statutory mandates as well as create awareness on its existence and activities which had lingered on silently over its 35 years of existence. Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) lauded the effort of the GMDC for the programme of work in which regulations featured prominently but added that it was long overdue. "This clearly means that we have done enough taking; it is time to act and determine exactly where we want to go and how to get there," he said. Major Quashigah said he was convinced that the necessary provision for the pertinent issues of regulation, training and standards for the practice of medicine and dentistry had been reasonably dealt with adding that the human resource needs of the country for doctors were gradually triggering the interest of some institutions to be engaged in medical and dental training. "A well researched and focused Council will then be in its statutory position for the needed extensive consultation and make its necessary technical inputs while ensuring that the already existing institutions of training are on top of the job," he told council. Major Quashigah said it was only an effective, organized, focused and resourced regulatory GMDC that could give mandatory clearance and registration to incoming practitioners who had met specific standards of written and practical medicine and dentistry. He added that changing global trends had made it necessary for the major regulatory body of the Ministry to be extremely competent and internationally acclaimed based on its ability to make the required internationally standards. Source: GNA