70 Student doctors inducted into clinical studies

Seventy student doctors of the University of Cape Coast School of Medical Science (UCCSMS) have been formally inducted into their clinical studies at a White Coat ceremony with a call on medical practitioners to practice with integrity and respect for human dignity.

The Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council, Professor Kwame Nyame, in an address at the Ninth
White Coat ceremony yesterday, said medical practitioners must learn to be humble and compassionate while dealing with patients.

He noted that “your duty, when licensed, will be to serve humanity, caring for the sick.”

He said it was important for medical practitioners to learn that the call to practise medicine was a call to serve humanity, saying that must be seen as a privilege and not a licence to play the boss.

No discrimination Prof. Nyame further advised the student doctors to treat patient information as privileged and confidential, saying it was important for doctors to have their patients’ absolute confidence.

He warned them not to discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion or political affiliation but urged them to be vocal in ensuring human rights were respected.

The White Coat ceremony is a rite of passage which transits the students from the theory learnt in the lecture halls to a new stage of applied science in the health facilities.

Level 400 medical students are symbolically donned with their white coats to commemorate their stepping into the medical profession.

This year, 37 female medical students and 33 male students went through the ceremony.

The Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr Eli Atikpui, advised the students to exhibit high professional standards while ensuring that the integrity of the white coat was kept intact.

The Chairman of the UCC Governing Council, Mrs Nancy Thompson, said it was refreshing that medical doctors graduating from the UCCSMS had a reputation of being good at the job and exhibiting high professional standards.

She, therefore, urged the student doctors to keep that reputation alive.

In an address read on his behalf, the Vice Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Joseph Ampiah Ghartey, urged the student doctors to commit to studying to save lives and not only to pass examinations.

He also advised them to work with honesty, uprightness and sacrifice to bring health and joy to their patients by adopting human-centred values.