University of Ghana to establish teaching hospital

Accra, March 27, GNA - The University of Ghana, Legon, is to establish a teaching hospital soon, Professor Andrew Lawson Provost of the College of Allied Sciences at the University announced on Saturday. He said the teaching hospital would include a new school of biomedical sciences to complete the dreams of relocating the entire College to the Legon campus.

Prof. Lawson said this at the ninth graduation ceremony of the College of Allied Sciences. Over 500 health professionals including 94 medical doctors 16 dental surgeons, who congregated, took the Hippocratic Oath to affirm their commitment to ethics of the medical profession.

The students comprised Medical Laboratory Scientists, Physiotherapists, Diagnostic Radiographers Nurses Dialectics and Health Informatics. Prof. Lawson said it was the plan of the College to develop a medical complex on the 400 acre parcel of land on the Legon campus. He said the College engaged the services of a team of Canadian health facility planning experts in 2008 to determine the location in functional terms. He added that business cases were being developed to be presented for funding.

Prof Lawson noted that the University Council had given the approval to a proposal for a public-private partnership arrangement for the establishment of the 100 bed teaching hospital. He said: "The super tertiary hospital to be built will form part of the 600 bed teaching hospital complex and a central administration block for the college," he said.

The College, he said, would receive a 25 member-team from the United State of America (US) to have first hand information on the needs of the College.

He said the College was collaborating with the University of Michigan and the College of Health Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to strengthen the data for human resources planning, strengthen education and training, health related research and research training.

Dr Justice Samuel Date-Bah, Chairman of the University Council, said the effort of the College to train professionals that would help in alleviating human suffering and disease through the application of science and technology was a demonstration of man's quest to exercise a degree of control over nature.

"The development of human capital is much more important than even the development of the natural resources with which we are so endowed. "The degrees that you will be awarded today will open a new vista of opportunity for you to launch yourself into fresh careers" he told the congregants. He said society expected health professionals to be caring and compassionate adding that "society is giving you responsibility over its health and wellbeing - a sacred trust, probably not matched in any other profession." 27 March 10