President Nana Akufo-Addo says government is ready to consider a request by the leadership of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to offer automatic post-retire­ment contracts to fellows who attained the mandatory retirement age.

He said this is to enable them to continue to train medical specialists for the country.

The President has, therefore, directed the leader­ship to liaise with the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu and the Ghana Health Service to submit a comprehensive policy document on post-retirement con­tracts for medical fellows who attained re­tirement age for consideration and approval.

“During our meeting, you requested that fellows who attained the mandatory retire­ment age be given automatic post-retirement contracts so that they can continue to train specialists in your training centre. Govern­ment is willing to do this to facilitate post­graduate medical training,” he stressed.

President Akufo-Addo disclosed this when he graced the maiden awards night of the college held in Accra on Tuesday.

The event climaxed the 20th anniversary of the college which was established in 2003 as part of measures to train postgraduate medical officers and specialists for the coun­try’s healthcare system.

He said the policy document must not only spell out the details of these post-re­tirement contracts but must include a mecha­nism to prevent the abuse of the initiative.

President Akufo-Addo said he was committed to his vision of making Ghana the “Centre of excellence for medical care in West Africa by 2030” by leveraging the country’s favourable status as the most peaceful country in West Africa, a beacon of democracy on the continent and a land of opportunities.

He said attaining this was beyond the building of just new healthcare facilities, stressing that “We will achieve this goal by first investing more in the development of our healthcare infrastructure, mapping our regional health facilities to specialisations as well as upgrading selective facilities in our regional and teaching hospitals to world-class standards.”

President Akufo-Addo said the fact that the college had increased the rate of production of specialists in these fields by tenfold of what it was in 2003 when it was established, was “extremely worthy of commen­dation.”

“At the graduation ceremony last week, the college inducted 247 members and 87 fellows, bringing the total number over the past 20 years to 1937 members and 248 fellows. These numbers are evidence of the dedication shown by all who are involved in the training and examination of specialists in the country,” he added.

The President noted that it was as a result of the offset statement which decreed that the first wealth was health that issues of health had been enshrined in the 1992 con­stitution

He added “It is the reason access to quality health care is a right enshrined in our national constitution. This constitutional right can best materialise if we construct adequate health facilities.”

He said his government’s commitment to improving the healthcare delivery system in the country was evident in the “Agenda 111” initiative, which was providing 101, and one standard 100-bed capacity district hospitals with accommodation for doctors and nurses at districts without district hospitals.

This, he said was in addition to six new re­gional hospitals each for the six new regions, rehabilitating the Efia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region, building one new hospi­tal for the Western Region and two psychi­atric hospitals for two of the three zones of the country.

President Akufo-Addo said the entire package of Agenda 111 was being under­taken at an estimated cost of US$1.765 bil­lion

He added, “Thus far, construction of 86 district hospitals, two regional psychiatric hospitals and the Western regional hospitals are ongoing which are all at various levels of completion.”

The average completion rate of the 89 ongoing projects is 52 per cent. With work at some of the sites being 70 to 80 per cent complete, it is worthy to note that the constructions of these hospitals are being undertaken by indigenous Ghanaian contrac­tors who provide direct and indirect jobs to Ghanaians,” he said.