The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) is racing against time to recruit personnel for the facility as a March deadline for the expiration of financial clearance given it by government closes in.
Out of over 1000 staff, including specialists and ancillaries that the 600 bed referral centre needs, it has been able to recruit only 305 as hundreds of job openings at the new centre fail to attract the appropriately qualified people.
Chief Executive Officer of the facility, Dr. Darius Osei, has told the Parliamentary Committee on government assurances that the recruitment hurdle is one of the main things the facility is facing it prepares for the final phase to the completion of the facility.
“We are still looking for the essential core persons, the specialists and consultants,” Dr. Osei told the committee, adding, “the demand is high (but supply is not that available).
The surprising conundrum of the new medical centre has brought to the fore the lack of high-quality specialism in medical education and training in Ghana, a country where nurses, and sometimes, doctors, often complain about lack of employment.
The UG Medical centre is a 600-bed facility which had been the subject of controversy in the early days of the Akufo-Addo administration. The government had battled the school over ownership of the facility, leading to the stalling of construction works.
However, Dr. Darius Osei has since revealed that the government and the school have mutually agreed to split the shareholding structure 60 – 40, with government owning the larger share.