Family Health Medical School to support needy, but brilliant students

The Management of Family Health Medical School, Ghana’s Premier Private Medical School led by its President, Prof. E. Y. Kwawukume, as part of her social responsibilities, have taken measures to launch an Endowment Fund on the 17th of October, 2019 to provide financial support for the needy, but brilliant Ghanaian students from both rural and urban areas, who have the desire to be trained as medical doctors.

The Family Health Medical School Endowment Fund would be launched on 17th October, 2019 at the Family Health University College, opposite Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre at Teshie.

The Fund shall constitute gifts, grants, donations, and bequests, as may be given by a corporate body, a group of persons, or an individual. Any person may contribute, or devise money, or other personal, or real property to the Fund; and to ensure its success, contributions towards the Fund shall be administered and managed by a Board of Trustees.

In an interview, the President, Professor Kwawukume, stressed that the purpose of the Endowment Fund, among others, is to provide scholarships/financial support to needy but brilliant Ghanaian students who have the desire to be trained as medical doctors; it is also for continuing students who face financial challenges along the way due to the inability of their main sponsors to support them.

The fund, he added, would also be used to promote research, and to provide equipment and supplies in support of teaching and learning within the faculty, and for any other purpose designated by a donor.

The Registrar of the Family Health Medical School, Mrs. Rita Kaine, appealed to individuals, institutions, organizations, and the general public to support the fund after it has been launched, so that in the long term, the Institution would be able to produce doctors to augment the few in the system and to activate the empty health facilities in the country.

The Registrar urged the government to join hands with the private medical institutions to help produce more doctors in the country. She said that it costs more to train a doctor abroad than at Family Health Medical School.

The Registrar however, appealed to government to consider sponsoring students to be trained as doctors in the country's private medical schools, such as Family Health Medical School, which has all the teaching and learning facilities, and does so at a minimum cost and with scholarships.

The Family Health Medical School, she indicated, can boast of qualified and experienced professors and lecturers who are always keen at imparting their practical knowledge and skills to the students.

The long-term benefits of the Endowment Fund will ensure the continued support of a diverse group of students from low income background within the country; help to make medical training accessible to more Ghanaian students; and increase the doctor-patient ratio in the nation to an acceptable level.

The beneficiaries of the fund will include students who on the inception of the medical programme, were capable of paying their fees, but due to sudden challenges such as, the demise or poor health of their main sponsor, etc. are incapable of paying the remaining fee.

The 2019/2020 admissions are now in progress and they are opened to both Ghanaians and foreign applicants. A special package awaits fresh applicants to the Medical School.

Family Health University College comprises a Medical School and a Nursing and Midwifery School. It also has a general and a specialist hospital, supporting the schools, on the same campus.

Family Health Medical School is Ghana’s premier private medical school with a hospital, modern facilities, spacious laboratories and lecture halls.

Family Health Medical School is affiliated to the University of Ghana and accredited by both the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and the Medical & Dental Council (MDC).

The School offers a six-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB) programme for WASSCE and ‘A’ Level candidates, and a four and a half-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB) programme (Graduadte Entry Medical Programme) for first degree holders in science related disciplines.

The School has students from Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Liberia, Cote d’IVoire, the United States of America, Britain, Canada, and Pakistan.