An Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Zikpuitor Lade Wosornu, has called for the scrapping of the retirement age limit for health workers, particularly doctors, to improve the doctor-patient ratio and ensure continuous and efficient health service delivery across the country.
Prof Wosornu, a retired surgeon, believes that retaining senior medical professionals in active service for as long as their health and strength permit would facilitate the seamless transfer of practical knowledge and experience to younger practitioners.
“When you retain the older people there, they have wisdom to bring to bear when the young ones are in trouble and need help,” he told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of his inaugural lecture on “The provision of space for implantable prosthetic lungs: A genesis, envoy and healing word.”
The event, held under the auspices of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra last Thursday, attracted some of Ghana’s most distinguished personalities, including his former Presec, Legon classmates from the 1962 year group — former Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Addae Mensah, and legal luminary, Tsatsu Tsikata.
Also in attendance were students from Accra Girls and Odorgonno Senior High Schools in the Greater Accra Region.
Although his lecture focused on implantable prosthetics, Prof Wosornu reflected extensively on his professional journey as a surgeon trained in Glasgow, Scotland, and his contributions to surgical practice in countries such as Saudi Arabia.
An implantable prosthetic is a medical device surgically placed inside the body to replace a missing body part, restore function, or support the body’s natural functions.
Retirement and workforce challenges
Prof Wosornu argued that the health profession was divinely instituted to preserve human life, and that any attempt to reduce the number of practising health workers because of financial constraints would have dire consequences for Ghana.
Addressing the issue of unemployed health professionals, particularly nurses, he stated that even if all were absorbed into the system, there would still be a shortage of health workers.
“Even if all of them were employed, there would still be shortage, so why keep them at home,” he said.
He recommended a gradual integration of unemployed health professionals into the workforce while older practitioners exited the system at their own pace.
Using his own experience as an example, Prof Wosornu revealed that his students once insisted he remained in service beyond his retirement age because of his expertise and knowledge.
“We need to cherish and hold such older ones in high esteem because if we use the age limit to retire them, Ghana will lose,” he stressed.
Education reform
Prof Wosornu also urged the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to make the use of indigenous Ghanaian languages a compulsory medium of instruction up to the senior high school level and a core subject at the pre-university stage.
“Our Ghanaian languages should be respected and value added to them. They must become key ingredients for enrolment into the civil service,” he said.
About Prof Wosornu
Prof Zikpuitor Lade Wosornu is a distinguished Ghanaian surgeon, poet, and public intellectual. An alumnus of Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School, Saint Augustine’s College, and the University of Glasgow, he graduated with honours and made history as the first African to win the Brunton Memorial Prize for the most distinguished medical graduate of the year.
He holds fellowships from the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England and is a founding fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons. His surgical career spans five countries, with over 90 peer-reviewed publications, particularly in chest surgery and surgical innovation. He has also contributed to global discussions on lung transplantation.