UHAS Graduates Second badge of Students
The University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho (UHAS) held its second congregation ceremony under the leadership of its second Council Chairman, Justice Victor Jones Mawulom Dotse, a Supreme Court Judge. A total of 412 final year students graduated with Bachelors in Physician Assistantship, Nursing, Public Health Nursing, Midwifery, Dietetics, Medical Laboratory, Science, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Public Health (Disease Control), Public Health (Environmental Health), Public Health (Health Information), Public Health (Nutrition) respectively.
The founding Vice Chancellor of UHAS, Professor Fred Newton Binka together with two others, Dr. Christina Amoako-Nuama and Dr. Delanyo Yao Tsidi Dovlo were also honoured with Doctorate degrees for their meritorious contributions towards the establishment and development of the University.
The Chairman of UHAS Council, Justice Victor Jones Mawulom Dotse, who was sworn into office barely a week ago, has charged the newly trained health care professionals to abide by the tenets of their professions in providing quality services to the citizenry.
In a speech read on his behalf as the Guest of Honour for the ceremony, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Honourable Minister of Education applauded the good works of the staff, students and all stakeholders of UHAS. He among other things assured the University community of government’s resolve to ensure that UHAS achieves its vision.
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, in a brief address said government was well aware of the challenges of the university and steps are being taken to tackle them in order to create a conducive environment for effective academic work.
The Vice Chancellor of UHAS, Professor John Owusu Gyapong, in his address said that the 5-year old university was making tremendous strides in spite of the teething challenges confronting it. He related that staff and student numbers have seen exponential increases since 2012, with the current population standing at 611 for staff and 3,727 for students.
He stated that the University currently runs a total of 18 academic programmes in six out of the eight mandated by the laws governing the University. The year under review saw the establishment of the School of Pharmacy, which currently runs a six-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programme and also Institute of Heath Research (which focuses on multidisciplinary research and provision of extension services in the sector.)
Professor Gyapong further bemoaned the inadequate infrastructural situation of the university stating that only one out of eight of the schools and three institutes has been built so far i.e. School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences thus all academic facilities are currently housed in temporary structures which are woefully inadequate. The Vice-Chancellor therefore made a passionate appeal to government to help tackle the massive infrastructural deficit by providing some basic minimum infrastructure for the university just as it was done for older public universities in the past.