The Ghanaian government spent $37m to train 200 Ghanaian doctors in Cuba

Speaking at the handing over ceremony of the 250 doctors to the Health Ministry, Alexander Abban said the payment included tuition, feeding, accommodation and monthly stipends for the seven-year stay in Cuba.

He said the government will continue to invest in the human resource of the country.

“On the average, 150, 000 dollars was expended on each one of them. If you do the Mathematics as against 250 students who were transported to that country, it comes to 37, 500,000 dollars.”

The over 200 doctors were drawn from every district and sent to Cuba under the Mills administration to be trained as doctors as part of a special level of cooperation.

Controversy

The arrival of the doctors caused controversy as the Minority in Parliament called for them to be fully integrated.

However, the doctors will have to write a Ghana Medical and Dental Council exams to be fully integrated into the Ghana Health Service.

But some of the newly trained doctors from Cuba said the government must reconsider its stance on the examination. They were speaking after they arrived in the country.

Ghana’s cooperation with Cuba in the area of health has been consistent for a very long time.