Accra: Biomedical Engineers have been advised to put into practice the knowledge and skills they have acquired to improve health care delivery as they play a major role in ensuring patients’ safety. Dr Nicholas Adjabu, the Head of the Biomedical Engineering Unit, Ministry of Health, at a training programme for the engineers on Monday, in Accra, expressed concern over the lack of biomedical engineers in the country’s hospitals. He expressed the hope that the government would employ more biomedical engineers to support all the hospitals.

According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Adjabu emphasized the importance of having engineers in every hospital, stating, “It is our wish that the government will be in a position to recruit more engineers to support all the hospitals, so that wherever we have a hospital, there will be an engineer who will do the day-to-day work.” The training programme, the ninth edition, was organised by the Korea Foundation for International Health (KOFIH), in partnership with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Service. It brought together 40 biomedical engineers from health facilities under the MOH to refresh and upgrade their technical skills.

Dr Adjabu urged the participants to be safety conscious, saying: “Safety starts with you; it is the beginning of your learning.” He highlighted the fact that many hospitals operate without engineers, which underscores the necessity of the training to enhance participants’ skills. He noted that biomedical engineers are instrumental in managing diagnostic equipment, emphasizing the importance of their role in ensuring these tools operate efficiently.

Mr Bomin Yang, the Country Director of KOFIH, stated that the training aimed to enhance the technical skills of the engineers to improve Ghana’s healthcare system. He assured that the foundation would continue to support the strengthening of the workforce’s capacity to meet the evolving needs of healthcare delivery.

Ms Agnes Clayman, a Biomedical Engineer at the University of Ghana Medical Centre, shared her positive experience from the training, mentioning that she gained firsthand experience with new equipment and learned about incorporating artificial intelligence to enhance her skills. The participants were presented with certificates and tool kits at the end of the training programme.