The School of Allied Health Sciences has launched the 10th anniversary of its establishment at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The semester-long celebration will be commemorated with various activities, including workshops, seminars, community health output, symposium, Dean’s Award, and a Thanksgiving service.
The launch was attended by academia, students, alumni, politicians, and members of the general public.
Delivering a talk on the theme: “A Decade of Allied Health Education: Innovating for the Future of Allied Health Sciences,” the Director of Allied Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Ignatius Abowini Nchor Awinibuno, congratulated the School on its milestone and for producing competent allied health practitioners and researchers in the country.
He saluted the founding faculty members for their vision and for establishing the School for professional allied health services to improve health care delivery.
“The Ministry of Health views Allied Health Professionals as significant in our health workforce. The role played by Medical Laboratory Scientists, Optometrists, Dieticians, Physiotherapists, and Health Promotion officers in disease prevention, among others, positively impacts our hospitals,” he said.
He added that UCC continues to play a strategic role in achieving the Ministry’s healthcare agenda.
“Your innovative curriculum, community-based training, and research excellence have produced competent and responsible professionals.
He added that the Ministry was committed to expanding opportunities for career development for allied health professionals.
Dr. Awinibuno urged the School to continuously align its programmes with national priorities such as climate resilience, non-communicable disease prevention, and digital health transformation.
“I urge you to partner with the Ministry of Health and institutions across the West Africa sub-region to promote regional learning and capacity growth,” he added.
The Central Regional Minister, Mr. Eduamoah Ekow Panin Okyere, in a remark, said the region was inundated with solid waste in volumes that pose dire health risks to members of the public and threaten the quality of the environment.
Some dignitaries who graced the anniversary launch cutting the cake
To help curb the menace, the regional minister urged Ghanaians to adopt best practices in waste management to protect the environment and their health.
The problem of waste also calls for more of the country’s scarce financial resources to be channelled into its management hence, the need for a collective effort to control it.
To this end, Mr. Okyere noted that “waste management is milking the resources of the country hence we must all join the fight against indiscriminate waste disposal in the region”.
He said the menace of waste in the country demanded a concerted effort to tackle and therefore charged UCC to bring innovative courses to tackle the scourge of waste in the country.
He said health education should focus on preventive measures.
The Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Denis Aheto who launched the 10th anniversary, said the waste made in coastal communities affects the aquatic environment.
Prof Aheto, therefore, appealed to the public to cultivate good waste management habits.
He said plans were advanced to develop academic programmes at UCC to fight waste in the country and urged the regional minister to support the University in tackling waste in the country.
He also urged faculty to consider research commercialization as an important activity in their career.
“As scientists, if we do not commercialise our research, we cannot progress in our academic journey. So, in the next ten years, the faculty in the School should commercialise their research”, he stressed.
The founding Dean Prof. Ernest Owusu-Ansah and the incumbent, Prof. Desmond Omane Acheampong, respectively took the audience through the history of the School which was established in 2015.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC