UDS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE INDUCTS STUDENTS (PAGE 11)

THE School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) of the University for Development Studies (UDS) has inducted its first batch of students at the Tamale campus of the university.
The school will adopt a new approach, problem-based learning (PBL), a training methodology which is in line with the university’s categorical and unique mandate of preparing health professionals and scientists with the right beliefs and attitudes.
A governing board, under the chairmanship of Professor Mumuni Dacobo, had earlier been sworn into office to help manage the affairs of the school.
The induction of the 31 students followed approval by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and the Ghana Medical and Dental Council (GMDC).
Until now, Human Biology students of the UDS were taking their clinical training at the medical schools of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi and the University of Ghana, Legon, at very high cost. Four groups of UDS students have already graduated from those sister universities.
At the induction ceremony, the acting Vice-Chancellor of the UDS, Professor Kaku Sagary Nokoe, said the gesture was not sustainable in the long term.
He explained that for the past two years the UDS-SMHS had been evaluated by various stakeholders and professional bodies, including the NAB and GMDC.
He mentioned the refurbishment of the Tamale Teaching Hospital and other district health facilities, including a possible addition of a new specialist teaching hospital at the Tamale campus of the SMHS.
Professor Nokoe disclosed that equipment worth over US$80,000 to equip the laboratory of the school had already arrived in the country. That had been made possible through collaboration between the government of Ghana and the World Bank.
According to him, the number of physicians per population of 1,000 in Ghana was as low as 0.1, as against 0.5 for low- income countries and 2.9 for high-income countries.
“In Northern Ghana, the situation is even worse. We believe we have found a solution to take these first independent steps by adopting the integrative PBL methodology which enables us to train the doctors to be immediately relevant,” he stated.
The Chairman of the governing board congratulated the students and urged them to be serious with their studies.
He described facilities at the Tamale Teaching Hospital as woefully inadequate and appealed to the government to give it immediate attention.