Currently, there is a need for Ghana and many other African countries to fix their ailing and overwhelmed health care sectors. The devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care systems across the globe and the international social and economic order has taught the world a great lesson.

As an African international student who migrated from Ghana to Ukraine in 2017 to study medicine, my anecdotal experience affords me the opportunity to share some insight into the health care problems of my native country, Ghana. Ghana's health care infrastructure faces challenges similar to those of many other African countries.

In 2015, l had the opportunity to be a part of a medical team in Ghana to observe the various health care problems of a deprived community called Mmframfadwene. Through this experience, I was shocked to learn that the inhabitants of Mmframfadwene had no potable water. Instead, they consumed water from streams and other water bodies with domestic animals, resulting in an increased incidence of water-borne diseases.

It is also worrying that, despite having a population of over 10,000, the community does not have any health care facilities; the nearest health care facility is about 16 kilometers away. Furthermore, the road network in Mmframfadwene was deplorable: bumpy, dusty and full of potholes. The main source of livelihood for the inhabitants was subsistence farming on small plots of land. These farmers usually tended to their farms without appropriate protective gear simply because they could not afford it.

Unfortunately, some farmers died from snake bites due to lack of antivenom at the nearest health care facilities. The only option was to be transported on motor bikes or bicycles to another health facility. A pregnant woman in labor suffered the ordeal of being transported by bicycle to an ill-equipped health facility to deliver her baby. There are no ambulances in the entire political district within Mmframfadwene, and I was told that several pregnant women in labor sadly lost their lives on the way to deliver their babies due to complications. These situations were common in Mmframfadwene and in many other rural communities in Ghana. Such unfortunate experiences moved me so deeply, that I was inspired to pursue a career in medicine.

The poor health care system is also very evident in the urban communities. The number of qualified health professionals is woefully inadequate for the country's needs. For example, in 2016 the ratio of doctors to patients was 1:84813, which is astoundingly high. Even more, there are very few specialists and specialized health care centers in Ghana and other parts of Africa.

Ghana established one of the few cardiothoracic centers in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s thanks to the efforts of the renowned German-trained Ghanaian cardiologist, Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, MD. Frimpong-Boateng's renowned work inspired me to pursue a career as a cardiothoracic surgeon in the future. Similar specialized centers in neuroscience, psychiatry and other fields are needed to improve the quality of health care.

The experiences shared in this article are just fragments of examples that influenced my decision to pursue my medical education in Ukraine. Since 2017, I have had the opportunity to study and work in a more stable and structured health care system. I look forward to returning home with a deeper breadth and depth of clinical knowledge and skills to save the ailing health care system in my country and other countries that may need my service.

Ghana and many other African countries need to make a conscious action plan geared towards fixing their ailing health care systems. They must develop comprehensive health plans to address specific issues in their health care systems. There is a need to engage all stakeholders to brainstorm solutions to the numerous challenges in the health sector, including improving the general infrastructure in the country. This would provide the nation with a better estimate of; the number of physicians and other health professionals needed, while filling the vacancy gaps of health professionals who migrated abroad for "greener pastures."

Finding impartial and holistic solutions for ailing health care systems in Ghana and other African countries would help improve the situation, resulting in a reduction in preventable mortality.

This article was authored by Andrew Awuah Wireko, MBBS, fourth year medical student at Sumy State University.