There are more Ghanaian physicians in New York City in America than there are in Ghana, renowned US-based plastic surgeon, Dr Michael Obeng said.
According to him, medical practitioners feel comfortable working abroad because they receive better care and regards for their work there than they do in Ghana.
Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday, Dr. Obeng said it is important doctors are given better attention by the state.
“There are more Ghanaian doctors in New York than in Ghana. And these statistics are astonishing. We need to take care of our doctors so they don’t leave. We don’t take healthcare seriously”.
Dr Obeng also said even though strides have been made in the healthcare system in Ghana, there is much to be done to make Ghana’s healthcare system considered one of the best.
“I think Ghana’s healthcare is still in its infancy, the healthcare hasn’t progressed a lot. It hasn’t progressed in over the 30 years that I left, but we have made strides.
“In 2011, we went to Tamale to do a donation and it was heartbreaking to hear that a whole regional hospital didn’t have a mammography and dialysis machines,” Dr Obeng told host Francis Abban, adding “with some of the things I’ve seen, I think there’s still a lot to be done in our healthcare system.”
Dr Obeng is an American plastic surgeon who currently practices in Beverly Hills, California, and is affiliated with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Obeng is the Director of MiKO Plastic Surgery and MiKO Surgery Centre in Beverly Hills. Before assuming this position, he was the Chief of Plastic Surgery at St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center in Ohio, where he had started the Plastic Surgery Program.
