Yao Tettey, representing the West African Colleges, has urged ECOWAS leaders to increase funding for specialised medical training and facilities to strengthen advanced healthcare delivery across the sub-region.

Mr Tettey made the appeal in Abuja on Monday during the Integration Meeting of Accredited West African Colleges, Training Institutions and Regulatory Bodies in the ECOWAS region, where he emphasised the importance of regional cooperation.

He commended the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) for supporting efforts to harmonise postgraduate medical training and sub-specialty programmes across member states, describing the initiative as particularly important.

“The initiative followed concerns raised by ECOWAS Heads of State over prolonged fellowship training, which delayed the availability of specialists to provide advanced healthcare services,” Mr Tettey said.

He explained that the Assembly of Health Ministers subsequently urged medical colleges to develop middle-level specialists capable of addressing healthcare needs across larger populations within the sub-region.

“The Assembly of Health Ministers subsequently urged medical colleges to develop middle-level specialists capable of attending to the healthcare needs of larger populations,” Mr Tettey said.

He said the colleges responded by introducing the membership examination as an exit assessment, enabling successful candidates to obtain certification and serve as specialists in district hospitals.

Mr Tettey said the colleges had expanded training beyond general fellowship programmes to include sub-specialties, addressing the region’s continued dependence on foreign countries for advanced medical treatment and services.

He commended WAHO for supporting the development and harmonisation of sub-specialty programmes, expressing confidence that the ongoing exercise would produce a document for regional implementation.

The representative, however, identified inadequate funding and medical equipment as major obstacles to specialised healthcare delivery, noting that some trained specialists had left their countries.

He explained that some specialists who returned to Ghana after advanced training could not practise their expertise because hospitals lacked the necessary equipment and facilities.

Mr Tettey expressed optimism that emerging regional centres of excellence were encouraging specialists to return home and provide highly specialised medical services in their respective countries.

He cited interventional cardiology and renal transplantation as examples of advanced medical services being developed in Nigeria and other countries across the West African sub-region.

He appealed to ECOWAS leaders to provide sustained financial support for specialised healthcare professionals and facilities to enable them to deliver advanced medical services locally.

Mr Tettey said harmonised programmes must address population healthcare needs while strengthening the region’s capacity to provide specialised treatment and reduce dependence on foreign medical facilities.

He expressed hope that the initiative would eventually reduce medical travel outside Africa, particularly to the United Kingdom, the United States and France, for advanced treatment.

He urged participants to ensure that their deliberations produced acceptable training programmes capable of improving specialist healthcare delivery and promoting regional self-sufficiency across ECOWAS member states.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of WAHO, Palokinam Pitche, called for stronger regional cooperation and harmonised training standards to address critical health workforce shortages threatening healthcare delivery.

Mr Pitche, represented by Joseph Olorunda, Head of Training and Human Resources for Health, said regional health systems remained fragile despite international declarations and commitments towards achieving universal health coverage.

He identified inadequate financing, weak surveillance systems, poor public health infrastructure and critical shortages of trained professionals as persistent challenges undermining healthcare services across member states.

He said that although governments had made efforts to train and employ health workers, many training institutions remained underfunded, restricting their capacity to produce sufficient professionals.

“Employment restrictions, poor working conditions, inadequate remuneration and limited career development opportunities had continued to discourage health professionals and fuel migration.

“The challenges had contributed to deteriorating healthcare facilities and declining quality of services, particularly in countries struggling to retain skilled professionals,” he added.

Mr Pitche said the migration of skilled health workers and workforce shortages had particularly affected rural communities, where access to quality healthcare remained limited across the sub-region.

He identified low salaries, poor working conditions, inadequate incentives and weak regulatory frameworks as major factors contributing to the region’s human resources for health crisis.

Mr Pitche explained that political and economic challenges, alongside structural adjustment policies, had weakened workforce development through staff layoffs, employment freezes and failure to recruit personnel.

He said some countries lacked properly structured and adequately equipped human resources departments capable of influencing policies and strengthening health workforce planning and management.

According to him, previous reviews showed that Africa had an average of 1.5 health workers per 1,000 people, below the minimum of 2.5 required to significantly reduce maternal mortality.

Mr Pitche warned that without coordinated regional interventions, ECOWAS countries would struggle to achieve meaningful progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage.

He said WAHO had facilitated the harmonisation of 58 basic and post-basic training curricula covering different categories of health professionals across the West African sub-region.

He added that the organisation had developed harmonised training modules for community-based health workers to strengthen grassroots healthcare delivery and improve access to essential services.

According to him, WAHO had provided training scholarships to build the capacity of 44 health professionals in critical areas of healthcare delivery across member states.

He said the organisation had also provided financial support to member states to implement harmonised curricula and developed trainers’ manuals to improve the quality of health professional education.

Mr Pitche said WAHO had developed a regional action plan to motivate and retain health professionals in difficult terrains while mapping specialist training needs and regional plans.

He added that the organisation had promoted continuous training for 23 health professionals from ECOWAS countries in antibiotherapy and vaccinology to strengthen specialised healthcare delivery.

The Director-General said WAHO had provided financial support to regional colleges and scholarly institutions to promote research, knowledge sharing and scientific publications across the sub-region.

Citing a 2025 WHO review, Mr Pitche said most of the 15 ECOWAS member states had fewer than one physician, nurse and midwife per 1,000 inhabitants.

He said only two countries recorded health workforce density ratios between one and 2.2 per 1,000 inhabitants, highlighting the significant shortages confronting healthcare systems across the region.

He emphasised that addressing those shortages was essential for ECOWAS countries to make meaningful progress towards achieving universal health coverage by 2030.

The WAHO Director-General identified five priorities for addressing the crisis, including quality training, protection of health workers and improved efficiency throughout their professional careers.

“Others are addressing workforce inequalities and imbalances, strengthening partnerships and building trust to support fragile health systems across the sub-region,” he said.

Mr Pitche reaffirmed WAHO’s commitment to collaborating with regional organisations and development partners to implement health-related decisions of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

(NAN)