The President of the Speech Therapists and Audiologists Association of Ghana, Dr. Josephine Ohenewa Bampoe, has called on the government to recruit more speech therapists and audiologists to improve access to care for children with developmental language disorders.
She says the shortage of specialists in Ghana is placing pressure on professionals in public hospitals, while the high cost of private therapy sessions makes treatment difficult for many families.
Speaking to JoyNews ahead of World Developmental Language Disorder Day on October 16, Dr. Bampoe, a lecturer at the Department of Audiology, Speech and Language Therapy, said more professionals were needed to meet the growing demand for speech, language and hearing services.
She noted that many practitioners work in private healthcare facilities, limiting access for parents who cannot afford regular therapy for their children.
Dr. Bampoe is urging the government to employ more qualified graduates from the University of Ghana and the University of Health and Allied Sciences to strengthen services in public health facilities.
She says increased recruitment would ease the workload on existing specialists and enable more children to receive timely assessment and intervention, which are essential for their communication, learning and development.
Her call comes ahead of the Global Awareness Day, which seeks to highlight developmental language disorder and the challenges faced by affected children and their families.