President John Dramani Mahama has inaugurated a committee tasked with overseeing the transfer of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) from the Ministry of Health to the University of Ghana.
The inauguration fulfils a key commitment by President Mahama to strengthen the links between the nation’s leading teaching hospital and its premier university.
Named the Transitional Management Committee, the body is co-chaired by two distinguished Ghanaians: Professor Aaron Lawson, a seasoned academic and former Provost of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Ghana, and Professor Mutawakilu Iddrissu, a Neurosurgeon at the Department of Surgery, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
The committee has been given a comprehensive mandate to guide the transition process. Its key responsibilities include:
1. Conducting a comprehensive review of the legal mandates, operational structures, and academic frameworks of both UGMC and the University of Ghana Medical School.
2. Developing integration guidelines to ensure coherence between UGMC’s clinical mandates and the university’s teaching and research mandates.
3. Designing a practical roadmap with clear timelines and a communication plan for stakeholders.
4. Facilitating all necessary legal and administrative processes for the seamless transfer and integration.
5. Identifying potential challenges, particularly in funding, staffing, and resource allocation, and proposing sustainable solutions.
6. Establishing a transition secretariat to provide operational and logistical support.
7. Reviewing expressions of interest for partnership by international health care institutions.
8. Submitting a comprehensive report to the President of the Republic within three months from the date of inauguration.
President Mahama emphasised the significance of the committee’s work, urging the members to “work diligently with a sense of historic responsibility,” adding, “You’re laying the foundation for a legacy of health care and medical education excellence. You’re building a bridge between the past and the future.”
The President described the UGMC as currently “a beacon of excellence, a world-class medical institution with a national mandate.”
He noted that the Centre “hosts the largest digitised medical simulation and training centre in West Africa,” which has “the potential to provide cutting-edge training for healthcare professionals across the West African sub-region.”
Built during President Mahama’s first term in office at a cost of $271 million and commissioned before he handed over power, the University of Ghana Medical Centre is a quaternary health facility.
It provides specialised care in numerous areas, including urology, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, cardiology, dermatology, neurology, and interventional radiology for cancers.
The facility also boasts amenities such as a medical hotel for clients, assisted reproductive technology services for fertility solutions, and a helipad for airlifting emergency cases.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.
