College of Health Sciences launches 10th anniversary

Accra, May 20, GNA - Professor Clifford Tagoe, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, on Wednesday said despite the opposition to the establishment of the of College of Health Sciences it has braved the odds and has grown into a very great institution.

"With the collective strength of its constituents, the Medical and Dental Schools, Schools of Nursing, Allied Health Sciences and the Public Health, as well as the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, it has finally come to the attention of the world", he said.

Speaking at the launch of the 10th Anniversary of the College, Professor Tagoe noted that it had chalked significant successes and singled out the establishment of the Postgraduate Endowment Fund with some innovative ways of fund raising by Trustees, making it attract students into areas where it was originally difficult to do so. The theme for the celebration is "The College of Health Sciences: A decade of Achievement and future prospects".

The Vice Chancellor said the University Council was in the process of enacting a new status and expressed the hope that when completed the relationship between each college and its constituents would be better defined to ensure smoother running of the affairs of the colleges. The several years of hard work spent in developing the concept and fine tuning its structures to enable it to be accepted by the University has paid off, he said, and added that the problem of replacing aging faculty was gradually being solved as well as addressing the retention of doctors. He paid glowing tributes to Professor Emmanuel Quay Archampong, the originator of the idea to establish the College, Prof. Sam Kwadwo Owusu who took it through the approval process and Prof Andrew Seth Ayettey, the foundation Provost, Mr Miguel Francisco Ribeiro, the first College Registrar, Prof Simon Naaeder, first Deputy Provost, Prof Albert Amoah, Prof Lawson, Deans, Directors and heads of departments who blazed the trail for the college.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the postgraduate Endowment Fund, Mr Sam Okudzeto said it would continue to help train world class doctors, specialist, Allied Health professionals and nurses who would serve as agents for the achievement of excellence that would propel the college agenda.

He added that the fund had had tremendous impact on enrolment into postgraduate programmes, and that since the establishment of the fund, almost all schools under the College had doubled their intake with about half of the students benefiting from scholarships.

He said the rampant loss of the best brains could be reduced if Ghanaians supported the institute, adding that the dangers in travelling abroad for medical attention, was that one could die midway because of the distance involved.

He urged corporate bodies, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, government and all stakeholders to support postgraduate training in order to save lives.

Prof. Aaron Lawson, Provost of the College, mentioned some of the challenges facing it as limited budgetary support, poor infrastructure, aging faculty and inadequate capacity for research.

In trying to address them he noted that the College was developing its second strategic plan which would include the liberation of the College legally, financial empowerment, and the establishment of a human resources framework that would inspire and motivate the organisation, infrastructural expansion and modernization and developing of new activities to bring about complete growth.

On Future goals, he said the immediate goal was to relocate to the Legon Campus where a 400-acre parcel of land had been earmarked for a complex to provide capacity for training more health professionals for the country. "In the foreseeable future the college hopes to add a new Teaching Hospital, School of Biomedical Sciences, a central administration, a diagnostic centre and blocks for the School of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Dentistry.

The Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Reinsurance Company, Mr Gustav Siale who formally launched the anniversary, said the College was acknowledged worldwide in education and research and noted that this should spur it further on.

He said the College should put together a consultancy team to provide services to businesses in the country. Some of the activities for the celebration include an open day for final year science students of Senior High Schools at Legon, public lectures, a scientific conference and a non- denominational church service. 20 May 10