Immediate past President of the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetists (GACRA), Jacob Wumbei, has disclosed that the association wants to dissociate itself from the Dental and Medical Council it belongs to and be a standalone entity.

According to him, the Council keeps discriminating against them and other practitioners. Mr Wumbei explained that he reckons the Council to be one that presides as a “father” over all the practitioners. However, he noted that the Council acts unfairly by favouring the “doctor anaesthetists” group whose number pales in comparison to the over 1,200 members registered under GACRA.

“Now, this problem started in 2013. The situation is simply this, we do not want to belong to the Council any longer… We don’t want to be there simply because the very Act that mandates the Council to regulate us, the Medical and Dental Council is not living in the expectation of that law. In that Act, we are called certified and registered anaesthetists and the Council has refused to recognize that. Secondly, by that Act we are to be registered as certified and registered anaesthetists by the Council. But again, the Council has refused to do that”.
Mr Jacob Wumbei

Mr Wumbei indicated that since the Council is not respecting the very law that mandates them to regulate the association, then GACRA has no “business” to be there. He expressed that the association has lost faith in the Council and do not want to be part of the Council because they are in the Council to progress. That notwithstanding, he revealed that the contrary is currently happening to members of the association.

“The very curriculum that trains us, they have downgraded that curriculum and then they turn to the public and say we are not qualified to… Every profession has a scope of practice and we are not against the scope of practice but the nature of the scope of practice is what we are against”.
Mr Jacob Wumbei

GACRA embarks on industrial strike

The Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetists has withdrawn its services nationwide, beginning today over concerns they do not have the license to practice.

Contained in an earlier statement by the Association, it revealed that the decision to completely withdraw services nationwide is as a result of the failure of authorities to address concerns raised by the anaesthetists in that regard.

“We cannot provide anaesthesia services across the country effective 1st January 2022 because members don’t hold license to practice”.
GACRA

The Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetists indicated that it has not received any response to the requests in its letter dated December 4, 2021, it wrote on the subject matter to the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR).

Following this, the statement noted that the inability of the CRAs to provide anaesthesia services is “indefinite until a determination” is made by the Ministry of Health.

Similarly, the group has declared a strike over the title change, also effective January 1, 2022. The group said the industrial action was due to the Ministry of Health’s failure to address its concerns over changing the title of members from “Physician Assistants” to “Certified Registered Anaesthetists”.