Regulation of health professionals is very important as it reduces the risk of harm to the public , while maximising the well-being of clients . Medical doctors, nurses, clinical officers, laboratory officers and pharmacists are among the health professionals who are regulated .
In regulation the laws or the by-laws defining the conditions for health professionals’ minimum educational requirements, entry to practice and other measures, such as regulation of continuous professional development are given priority.
Each country has its own way of regulating its professional and by far this kind of regulations cuts across in the world. Nurses and medical doctors can work in any country in the world as this has been necessitated by the World Medical Association and the International Council of Nurses. The two bodies work with various national associations and regulatory bodies to make it easy for movement of labour /human resource from one country to another.
In Kenya, for example, the Clinical Officers Council regulates the training of clinical officers guided by the Clinical Officers Act 20 of 2017. Uganda and Rwanda have the Allied Health Professions Council that regulates the same clinical officers. Tanzania, Zanzibar and South Sudan have the same clinical officers regulated by the medical councils of the respective countries while Burundi has the nursing council regulating the training of clinical officers.
For several years now the global body for clinical officers has been moving around the countries that make up the East African Community to ensure a harmonised way of regulating the training and license of clinical officers who account for 80 per cent of all the outpatient cases in East Africa.
With the introduction of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the EAC, making it one of the biggest regional blocs in the world with a population of 300 million people, focus shifts to primary healthcare in attaining of universal health coverage. This is possible by each member country engaging more clinical officers, who are the custodians of primary healthcare.
East Africa has approximately 90,000 clinical officers with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania taking the largest share of the numbers, which are way short of the required patient-doctor ratio.
While doctors have a joint regulatory body that allows them to work and train across the East Africa region without problems, the clinical officers are still way behind pushing for a similar regulatory body.
Since 2009, the East African Community partner states' medical and dental boards/councils carry out joint inspections of medical and dental schools and teaching hospitals in the region. The inspection, which takes place every five years, is aimed at ensuring universities are conforming to standards and guidelines governing medical and dental schools with a view of improving healthcare.
The graduates who conform to the set standards are given EAC reciprocal recognition upon qualification as practitioners, meaning they can practice in the EAC states. The inspections are carried out by a technical team from the EAC partner states' boards/councils as well as representative of a country’s commission of university education.
The EAC needs to also engage the various stakeholders, boards that regulate clinical officers from member states, colleges and universities training clinical officers to ensure a similar approach. This will not only bring regional integration but also ensure attainment of UHC.
During a recent visit to Zanzibar’s House of Representatives, we realised that a clinical officer who trained in The State University of Zanzibar could not be allowed to practise in Kenya. This was difficult despite the clinical officer’s fiancée, who also studied in Zanzibar, was easily registered as a clinical officer in Kenya – being a Kenyan citizen.
As an organisation we will engage the East African Community under the able leadership of Dr Peter Mathuki and the legislative wing headed by Hon Speaker Martin Ngoga.
President of the Global Association of Clinical Officers and Physician Associates
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