UHAS – A New Model for Community-Based Training & Research?
The Management of the University of Health and Allied Sciences has an interesting sense of humour; evidenced by two cartoons behind the Vice Chancellor’s door.
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Culled from Ghanaian newspapers, the cartoons depict the humble beginnings of Ghana’s youngest public university dedicated solely to the training of health professionals. Published almost four years ago, the cartoons ridicule the new university’s campus as a dense forest with snakes, tortoises, horses and other animals as students.
As it turned out, these negative images did not fail to leave a lasting impression on the minds of many, including those who would sometimes dismissively say, “There is nothing going on in that UHAS forest”.
To the Vice Chancellor and his able senior management team, however, these cartoons, among other inspirations, became the rallying point for pressing on with the vision to secure a permanent campus and a congenial learning atmosphere.
Two weeks ago, President John Mahama inaugurated the School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences or what the Vice Chancellor called “the nucleus and permanently identifiable location of the university” at Sokode Lokoe, near Ho.
This marked the completion of the first of eight schools and three institutes expected to form the set up of the entire university. The project was funded through a Chinese government grant and built by the China Yanjian Construction Company Ltd.
From an initial 154 students, UHAS now has a student population of 2, 044 students in five schools; School of Medicine, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Public Health, School of Allied Health Sciences and School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences.
Gradually but steadily, UHAS continues to brand itself as a research-driven community-based medical education model with the university citing its ongoing vocational programmes, collaboration with local government and traditional authorities, and attempts to spread education training facilities across the entire Volta Region as key hallmarks.
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Ebola Vaccine Research
In the field of research, the young university is already collaborating with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the Kintampo Research Centre to conduct Ebola Vaccine trials following the recent approval granted by Ghana’s Parliament.
Community Based Health Training
UHAS has a compulsory Vocational Training where students spend eight weeks of each long vacation for internship in health facilities to transform the theoretical lessons into practical realities. “We believe strongly that theory must meet practice, so this flagship programme has, since 2013, been posting our students to the communities where they are intended to serve after their graduation” said the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fred Binka.
In furtherance of its vision of a community based education, UHAS appears to have embarked on building and strengthening extensive networks with various communities. Already, all the Municipal / District Assemblies across the region have pledged to build at least a bungalow each for the use of medical consultants in the various communities. The assemblies are at different stages of this project, with the Hohoe Municipal Assembly undertaking to construct two of such facilities and the Ho Municipal Assembly at the completion stage of a 4-bedroom bungalow.
Meanwhile, the chiefs and people of Worawora, the Keta District Assembly and a Ghanaian dentist have overwhelmingly come to the aid of the university by donating a multi-purpose learning/vocational training centre, a beautiful office complex/ accommodation facility at Vodza, and a facility to be used as a guest house/conference centre in Accra, respectively.
Overall, the Vice Chancellor expressed appreciation to the National Council for Tertiary Education, the GETFund, Volta Regional Coordinating Council, the Asogli Traditional Area, the Sokode Traditional Area, the Hlefi Traditional Area, the Gbi Traditional area and the Fodome Traditional Area for their support since the establishment of the university.
School of Pharmacy
While work has started at the permanent site of the Hohoe campus with the construction of the School of Public Health, plans are on course for the establishment of the UHAS School of Pharmacy at Keta. Explaining further, the Vice Chancellor said that “The vision is to commence the six-year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D) and if possible to admit the first batch of students in August once we are through with the accreditation processes. The Pharm D programme will guarantee a composite professional degree and will produce pharmacists with competencies needed in tackling existing challenges in delivering health service to our people. The school will comprise five academic departments; Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology and Pharmacy Practice.”
Endowment Fund
The university’s management and employees have demonstrated their faith in the vision of UHAS by contributing GH¢20,000.00 as seed capital for an endowment fund. This fund will soon be launched and the university will vigorously pursue stakeholders such as the Government of Ghana, the international community, the business community, traditional leaders and individuals for generous donations.
Challenges
The commendable achievements of UHAS notwithstanding, it would appear the university is not without its challenges. Foremost among these are funding and staff recruitment challenges as UHAS really struggles to secure financial clearance for permanent teaching staff from the Ministry of Finance.
UHAS hopes to graduate its first batch of students in July 2016.
Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey
www.sodzisodzi.com
sodzi_tettey@hotmail.com