By Rachel Quartey
Ghana is set to host the 28th Annual Conference of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) from August 23 to 27, 2026, with health regulators and other stakeholders from across the continent expected to deliberate on ways to strengthen healthcare regulation and improve patient safety.
The conference, to be held at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, is under the theme, “Responsive Regulation for Safer Communities: Towards the Achievement of Universal Health Coverage.”
Ahead of the conference, the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Ghana, Dr. Divine Banyubala, says the discussions will focus on ensuring that Africa’s healthcare regulatory systems are responsive to the changing dynamics of healthcare delivery.
He said developments in artificial intelligence, telemedicine and digital health, coupled with the movement of healthcare professionals across borders, emerging and re-emerging diseases and humanitarian emergencies, require regulators to adapt without compromising patient safety.
“Our regulatory systems must be capable of responding to these changes appropriately to ensure that, in the wake of these developments, patient safety is not compromised,” he said.
Dr. Banyubala stressed that universal health coverage should not be understood merely as expanding access to hospitals, medicines, insurance and other healthcare services.
According to him, access must also guarantee safety and quality.
“Universal health coverage must mean universal access to safe and quality care, and not simply just universal access to care,” he said.
He explained that effective regulation is critical to ensuring that healthcare professionals are properly trained, licensed, competent, ethical and accountable to patients.
“There is little value in expanding access if the healthcare provider is unsafe, the practitioners are not adequately and appropriately trained, and the qualifications that they have cannot be verified or are fake,” Dr. Banyubala said.
Professional mobility and patient safety
One of the major issues expected to feature at the conference is the increasing movement of healthcare professionals across African borders.
Dr. Banyubala said professional mobility was not inherently problematic, but regulators must ensure that practitioners moving between jurisdictions meet the required professional standards.
“Healthcare professionals have a legitimate right to pursue opportunities here or elsewhere. So the challenge we have as regulators is to ensure that the mobility is safe, it is transparent, and it is properly managed,” he said.
He called for stronger cooperation among African regulatory authorities to enable them to verify the qualifications and professional standing of practitioners moving across borders.
He said regulators should be able to determine whether a practitioner is properly registered, whether there are restrictions on their licence, or whether they are facing disciplinary action in another jurisdiction.
“We need to have this information,” he said.
Dr. Banyubala believes the development of a continental regulatory information-sharing platform could help address some of these challenges.
He said such a system could improve practitioner verification, combat fraud and forgery and strengthen public protection across African jurisdictions.
His message was clear: “Whilst practitioners may cross borders, patient protection must cross borders with them.”
Inclusive regulation
The conference will also examine inclusive regulation, with Dr. Banyubala stressing that inclusiveness must not come at the expense of professional standards.
He said regulatory systems should be fair and transparent while ensuring that only competent and ethical professionals are allowed to practise.
“Inclusion here does not mean lowering the patient’s safety threshold,” he said.
“We want regulation that is fair, transparent and responsive, while still ensuring that only competent and ethical healthcare professionals are licensed to practise.”
He said the focus should be on competence and the quality and safety of care rather than simply where a healthcare professional was trained.
“A good regulator must be able to achieve both” fairness and high standards, he said.
Regulation during emergencies
Another key area of discussion will be healthcare regulation during conflicts, epidemics, disasters and other humanitarian emergencies.
Dr. Banyubala acknowledged that emergencies may require faster deployment of healthcare professionals, emergency registration arrangements and task-sharing.
However, he cautioned that flexibility must not translate into a lowering of professional and ethical standards.
“The challenge is to ensure that our regulatory systems are flexible without becoming unsafe, and that we are fast without becoming reckless,” he said.
Ghana’s opportunity
Dr. Banyubala said Ghana’s hosting of the conference presents an opportunity for the country to contribute to continental leadership in healthcare regulation while also learning from the experiences of other African countries.
He said Ghana’s democratic stability, hospitality and ongoing health-sector reforms were among the factors that made the country a suitable host.
He described the conference as an opportunity for Ghana to “contribute to the continental leadership in healthcare regulation” and showcase the progress it is making in healthcare service provision.
The conference is expected to bring together regulatory authorities, healthcare practitioners, professional associations, academics, universities and training institutions, health insurance organisations, government agencies, students, interns, the media and other stakeholders.
Measuring success
For Dr. Banyubala, the success of AMCOA 2026 should not be measured simply by the number of participants or the calibre of speakers.
Rather, he wants the conference to produce practical improvements in healthcare regulation across Africa.
“Success will be whether the conversations have helped African regulators build stronger, smarter and more responsive regulatory systems,” he said.
He also wants to see stronger cooperation among countries, improved mechanisms for practitioner verification and information exchange, and better regulatory responses to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine and digital health.
Ultimately, Dr. Banyubala says the conference is about putting the patient at the centre of healthcare regulation.
“Responsive regulation means competent and accountable professionals. Competent and accountable professionals mean safer patients. Safer patient care means stronger and trusted healthcare systems. Stronger and trusted healthcare systems means simply healthier communities.”
He said the ultimate goal is to ensure that people across Ghana and Africa have access not just to healthcare, but to healthcare that is safe and of assured quality.
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