The Medical and Dental Council says it has good reason to deny a Ho-based self-acclaimed neurosurgeon the right to write certification exams for a specialist position in the medical profession.

Registrar of the Council Eli Atikpui insists Dr. Richard Abrahamani Seidu does not meet the minimum requirement to be examined for a neurosurgeon position.

The Council is therefore ready to meet Dr. Seidu at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) where the self-acclaimed neurosurgeon proceeded to have his right to be examined enforced.

According to Dr. Seidu, he obtained his training in Neurosurgery between 2012 and 2015 at the Department of Neurosurgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtse University, Jingzhou, China.

He also underwent further training at the Jiangbin Hospital, which is also affiliated to the same University from 2015-2017.

According to him, he became a fellow of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies after completing his postgraduate training at Sichuan University.

Despite this qualification, he claimed the Medical and Dental Association has refused to grant him audience and will not allow him to write his examination for certification.

He said after returning to the country in June 2018 with the requisite certificates, he has been reduced to driving a taxi in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, to make a living just because no institution will hire him without a certification from the medical council in Ghana.

But speaking to Joy News, Eli Atikpui said they have received the documents and certificates from the self-acclaimed surgeon and vetted them, but they are not convinced Dr. Seidu is qualified to be certified.

“It is one issue submitting certificates having had some training and it is another issue as to whether or not that training or certificates is recognized by the Dental Council,” he said.

He added that for a person claiming to have had his fellowship for six months cannot hold himself out as a neurosurgeon. 

“I would wish that we go back and ask any neurosurgeon registered by the Council to brief us and educate the Ghanaian public as to the duration of training in neurosurgery anywhere in the world.”

He said that even though the documents suggest the Doctor in question had some training for three years, it takes a minimum of six years to train a neurosurgeon.

“The training is woefully inadequate and therefore we cannot take him or admit him to write the examination. That was duly communicated to him,” Dr Atikpui added.

He said they will duly proceed to CHRAJ and make their position clear.