The Ghana Medical and Dental Council has disclosed that 17 medical practitioners have been reported to have mental health conditions, while 12 others are battling substance abuse.
During a visit by Parliament’s Health Committee on Wednesday, July 15 , the Registrar of the Council, Dr. Divine Banyubala, expressed concern over the situation and assured the Committee that measures are being implemented to address the challenges and strengthen the resilience of the healthcare workforce.
“We have practitioners who have mental illness, different kinds. Some of them are on substances,” he stated.
Dr. Banyubala explained that the Council has formed a health assessment panel which reviews mental issues referred to it.
“When the referral is made, we set up a health assessment panel and in one case when the health assessment panel met and assess, we saw that there was nothing of note. But of course, we do watch we call the watchful waiting,” he noted.
He acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, noting that a stakeholder conference was held in February 2026 to discuss issues of mental health involving medical practitioners.
According to him, at the conference, a consensus was reached for the Council to lead the process of conducting a base line study on mental health and fitness to practice among healthcare workers in Ghana.
He said other issues discussed were the need to deal with healthcare system resilient issues and whether or not there are any workplace arrangement to deal with healthcare workers who are in need of care.
