Ghana pushes JCI international accreditation

The Ghana Health Service is encouraging hospitals in the country to move towards achieving JCI international accreditation, to boost inbound medical travel.

Speaking at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, the Director of Policy, Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Health, Dr Emmanuel Odame stated, “The acquisition of accreditation will be crucial in the country’s quest to enhance medical tourism. It’s not about adding more infrastructure and adding more personnel. We have to get to the point of getting a JCI accreditation in this country, and this is what will attract medical tourists. When you have international certification, you know you can carry out certain procedures.”

Many health facilities in Ghana have earned the local HeFRa certification, but Dr Odame believes this means nothing to international patients.

For over a decade various organisations have claimed that accreditation attracts medical tourists. While it is true that accreditation helps to improve the quality of services, there is, as yet, no published research that proves or disproves the claim that it affects medical travel volumes.