President John Mahama is calling for smarter, tougher and more responsive health regulation across Africa, warning that regulatory systems must evolve to keep pace with changing healthcare needs.
He made the call on Monday, August 24, 2026, at the 28th Annual Conference of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) in Accra, where health regulators and practitioners are confronting gaps in healthcare regulation and seeking practical solutions.
The three-day conference is focused on strengthening regulatory systems, improving patient safety and advancing universal health coverage across the continent.
President Mahama says Africa does not need more regulation, but better regulation, with regulators knowing when to guide, correct, intervene and sanction.
“Regulation cannot remain static. It must be responsive, it must be firm, it must be fair, it must be protective and enabling and it must be grounded in our African reality. But it must be informed by global knowledge. Responsive regulation is not simply about regulating more, it is about regulating better. It is about knowing when to guide, when to support, when to correct and when to sanction.”
He says effective regulation must balance enforcement with support and remain responsive to the realities of healthcare delivery.
Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana and former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, says regulation is critical to maintaining professional standards.
“You have got to regulate the training of health professionals. You have got to hold them accountable in their practice. You also have got to make sure that they keep abreast with knowledge throughout their years of practice and so it makes regulation absolutely vital.”
Registrar and CEO of the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana, Dr. Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, says patient safety must remain central as healthcare professionals increasingly move across borders.
He is calling for an Africa-wide data infrastructure to help regulators quickly verify and authenticate medical practitioners across countries.
“Our commitment as regulators is to ensure that whilst practitioners may cross borders, patient safety must not be left behind. It must cross when practitioners cross and that will lead us into having a conversation around having an African wide data infrastructure so that we can have a mechanism where we can quickly verify, authenticate doctors.”
Former WHO Deputy Director-General, Dr. Anarfi Asamoah-Baah, says regulators must move from being perceived as obstacles to becoming partners in improving healthcare.
He also warns that waste, duplication and inefficiencies are draining resources from already stretched health systems.
“Health systems face not only inadequate resources but also wastage and inefficiency. A substantial amount of health care expenditure is lost through unnecessary interventions, duplications, inefficient processes and inappropriate use of resources.”
He says achieving universal health coverage requires not only increased funding but also value for money, efficiency, ethical stewardship and accountability.
“The UAC agenda is therefore not simply about putting in more money into health and removing financial barriers. It must also be about value for money, efficiency, ethical stewardship of resources and accountability.”
The conference, themed “Responsive Regulations for Safer Communities Towards Universal Health Coverage,” brings together health regulators and practitioners from across Africa to develop sustainable approaches to strengthening healthcare regulation and protecting patients.
By Beatrice Sowah
