The Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, has advised midwives to see the midwifery profession as a calling to save lives of expectant mothers and newborn babies.
"Being a midwife is not just a job. It is a calling. A calling dedicated to caring for and empowering women and ensuring the wellbeing of both mothers and babies during and after childbirth," he remarked.
Prof. Boampong was addressing graduands who pursued top up in diploma in midwifery propramme offered by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in 27 Nursing and Midwifery
Training Colleges in Ghana for the 2022 Academic Year.
A total of 1,750 students were awarded Diploma in Midwifery with 277 First Class, 884 Second Class Upper, while 394 students were awarded Second Class Lower Division, 148 Third Class and 47 Pass.
The Vice-Chancellor, who congratulated the graduands on their academic success, admitted that the work of the midwives would be challenging, but it was noble and inspiring to care for mothers and babies.
He counselled the graduands to commit to continuous professional development in the execution of their work to know more about the midwifery profession so that they could practice to impact and protect the lives of people in the society.
Since 2019, he added, UCC had graduated over 10,000 midwives who were supporting the health sector in the country.
"Undoubtedly," Prof. Boampong pointed out, " the midwifery programme has created a path for academic progression for the Post Nurse Assistant Clinical (NAC Nurse Assistant Preventive and Clinical (Post NAC/NAP) students who hitherto were finding it difficult to pursue further studies."
He, therefore, praised all stakeholders for the contributions to the success of the programme since its inception.
The Vice-Chancellor singled out the Minister of Health, Hon. Kwaku Agyemang Manu, the Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Tina Mensah, and a former Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Mr. Felix Nyante, for their invaluable support towards the midwifery programme.
He announced to the graduands that UCC was offering a top up BSC Nursing and BSC Midwifery programmmes in some health training institutions in the country to upgrade diploma in nursing and midwifery holders and urged the graduating class of the 8th Session to take advantage of the newly-introduced programmes.
The Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rosemond Boohene, presenting a cash prize to Mrs. Kate Agyakomah, the overall graduating student.
Prof. Boampong noted that the University was engaging the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission to grant UCC the permission to admit certificate holders who read Nursing Assistant Clinicals and Health Assistant Preventive to Level 200.
The Vice-Chancellor announced that the University had introduced a certificate in Information Science (Sandwich mode) to build the capacities of library staff of Health Training institutions.
He added that UCC had collaborated with the Health Institution Secretariat to extend E-Library service to all health training institutions in the country.
The Vice-Chancellor expressed the hope that the University would continue to partner the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and the Health Training institutions to produce highly motivated and competent midwives to provide quality care to patien