Four (4) Medical Students, Messrs Gerald Fletcher, Senanu Djokoto, Titus Beyuo, and Kelechi Ekeh, departed Belgrade on Tuesday via Alitalia flight for Accra, after attending the 55th Annual Conference of the International Federation of Medical Students in Zlatibor, Serbia. The Conference officially ended on Monday, 7th August, 2006.
2. Prior to their departure for Ghana, the Students had, on the afternoon of Monday, 7th August, 2006, paid a courtesy call on His Excellency Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe at the Chancery after which they were led by His Excellency to visit the Military Hospital (VMA) in Belgrade.
3. At the Military Hospital, the delegation was received by the Head of the Military Hospital, Major-General Prof. Dr. Miodrag Jevtic and Prof. Malicevic, Head of Educational Department. In his briefing, the Head of the Hospital noted that apart from serving as a Medical Centre, the Hospital also acts as an Educational Facility for Post-Graduate Studies as well as a Centre for Scientific and Research Work, noting that it was an epitome of a modern and efficient medical institution. Continuing, Maj-Gen. Prof. Dr. Jevtic disclosed that the hospital’s hallmark lay in the treatment of mass cases of trauma and casualties, aside of undertaking transplants of the kidney, liver, bone marrow, and stem cells.
4. Statistically, the Military Hospital can boast of one hundred and forty (140) Senior Lecturers and sixteen (16) Professors at its Institute for Medical Research, whilst the Surgical Block has a total of sixteen (16) operation theatres and an additional two operation theatres run by the Casualty Department. For the year 2005, the Military Hospital received a total of 663,000 patients, an average of 55,000 patients in one month. Of this yearly figure, a total of 30,810 (approx. 5%) were admitted for treatment whilst the remaining were treated and discharged. The average mortality rate was 2.8%, and those admitted spent an average of ten (10) days at the hospital. On the whole 11,928 surgical cases were treated in 2005 with the out-patient surgical constituting 7,244 of the total. Meanwhile, surgeons needed approximately five (5) days of pre-surgical preparations whilst the post-surgical recovery for patients lasted twenty (20) days. For the month of June 2006, the total number of patients who visited the various departments of the hospital, in a single day, were two thousand (2000), with military personnel making up 60% of that number; the remaining eight hundred (800) were civilians.
5. Maj-Gen. Prof. Dr. Jevtic exhorted the governments of Serbia and Ghana to explore the possibilities of further cooperation at all levels, in particular the field of medicine for the mutual benefit of their peoples, and further encouraged the students to feel at ease to apply to the institution for their post-graduate studies.
6. Responding, His Excellency Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe expressed sincere gratitude to the Head of the Military Hospital for having made time to receive the delegation, albeit short notice. Having traced Ghana - Serbia relations to the late fifties and also recalled his fruitful discussions with the Prime Minister of Serbia, His Excellency Dr. Vojislav Kostunica, and the Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Serbia, Mr. Damjan Krnjevic, which centred on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, His Excellency expressed his pleasure at the fact that the students had successfully participated in the International Federation of Medical Students Conference which was hosted by Serbia. On behalf of the Government of Ghana, His Excellency, thanked the Head of the Military Hospital for the assurances that Ghanaian Medical Students were always welcome to the institute for their post graduate programmes.
7. Having completed the formalities, the head of the educational unit, Professor Malicevic, escorted the students on a tour of some key departments of the hospital, namely the Emergency (trauma) Centre, Clinic for Infectious Diseases, the Centre for Medical Research and the Physiotherapy Department.
8. Later in the evening, His Excellency hosted a dinner in honour of the four (4) Students.
