The Ghana Health Service is taking steps to decentralize specialist training for medical officers, Director-General of the Service, Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, has  revealed.

He says medical personnel will no longer leave their duty posts for studies elsewhere.

According to him, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons have signed an MOU to work together in a bid to decentralise specialist training programme at the districts.

He said the Service has begun with specialisations in Family Physician.

Dr. Appiah-Denkyira is confident the decentralisation move will improve healthcare delivery, especially, in rural communities.

Addressing an oath swearing ceremony for the Medical and Dental Schools of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the GHS Director-General urged the university to adopt hospitals in the district as training centres.

176 newly-trained medical doctors - 98 males and 78 females graduated. In addition 19 dental surgeons, eight of them females were inducted.

“It is time to extend the school to other sites other than KNUST. Mampong, Agogo, Sunyani, Brekum and Techiman come in handy as outpost training sites,” he said.

The spark of the ceremony was the announcement of two females as the overall best students for both groups.

Fatimah Karim swept 12 out of 15 awards at the School of Medical Sciences to emerge the ultimate.

For the Dental School, Louisa Ansong Kwakye won all but one of six honours up for grabs.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso advised the new doctors to look beyond their degrees.

Prof Obiri-Danso urged the newly graduated doctors to improve themselves even further.

“Being a medical officer alone cannot carry you as far as you would wish. You need to take your professional practise seriously, work to become members of the council and if there is the need for further education, pursue it,” he admonished.