The Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences
(UHAS), Prof. Fred Binka, has expressed concern over the current
financial position of the new university, and appealed to the government
to adopt urgent measures to address the problem.
The obviously worried Prof. Binka explained that the university had
admitted 500 new students for the 2013 and 2014 academic year, but as a
result of infrastructure and financial difficulties, management had
postponed reopening two times due to lack of accommodation for both
students and lecturers.
According to him, his administration, in its attempt to salvation the
situation, had decided to renovate a private hostel in the Ho township
to accommodate some of the students to enable the university start the
new academic year. A six-unit classroom block meant for the university
was also being converted into accommodation for some of the lecturers.
The Vice Chancellor, however, noted that the situation where students
and lecturers would have to be transported from the hostel to campus
would come at a cost to the university, but the funds were simply not
there to handle the situation, and therefore, called for government
intervention.
Prof. Binka, who made the appeal when the members of the Volta Caucus
on Education in Parliament visited the university to acquaint
themselves with developments going on there, disclosed that initially,
when the UHAS was established, the government made provision for only
seven staff, but the current situation calls for an expansion of
government’s support base to include other staff relevant for the smooth
administration of the school.
The Vice Chancellor said recently, some Israeli contractors visited
the Volta Regional Hospital with the aim of building a $700,000 seminar
room for the hospital in Ho, as well as a $900,000 seminar room for that
of the Hohoe Hospital as part of the upgrading of the regional hospital
to a teaching one. He noted that though this was welcome news, it was
still inadequate.
Prof. Binka pointed out that the management of the university was
worried as to when the upgrading of the regional hospital would start,
because the UHAS could not admit medical students unless the regional
hospital had been upgraded to a teaching one, to help meet the practical
needs of medical students.
He said there was a high demand for the courses being pursued at the
university, and announced that key laboratories such as anatomy and
physiology were crucial at any health training institution, noting that
the University Council had approved of the building of these key
laboratories, and land for the project acquired. According to him, lack
of funds had made it impossible for the project to start.
The Vice Chancellor further explained that as a result of the
non-availability of laboratories, for students from the UHAS normally
visit the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital for practical work, and that in
November 2013, the students would have to go for practical training at
Korle-Bu, but the latter had given indication to the UHAS that it might
not be possible, because the hospital would be very busy at that time.
Whilst being confronted with the above challenge, Prof. Binka said
the university also needed to put up a big laboratory complex that would
take care of practical training. The design for the two-storey
building laboratory had already been completed, and would cost GH¢30
million upon completion.
They also needed an auditorium that could accommodate 2,500 students,
and an administration complex to cater for the needs of the university
administrators and the lecturers. He continued that the management of
the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) had agreed to
provide a 500-bed capacity hostel for the university on the permanent
site at Sokode, which is ongoing, but the rate at which work was
progressing was very slow, and appealed to SSNIT to speed up work on the
project.
Prof. Binka announced that there were plans to open the School of
Pharmacy at the Hohoe campus, but all these called for adequate funding
for the needed infrastructure for the smooth take off of the UHAS.
He was, however, happy about the quality of students who gained
admission to the UHAS, noting that records showed that all the 10
regions had a sizable number of students at the university, with the
lowest region having only one student, which he mentioned as the Western
Region.
The Leader of the Volta Region Parliamentary Caucus on Education, Mr.
Joseph Amenorwode, commended the staff and the management of UHAS,
particularly the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Binka, for the display of
professionalism, as well as high leadership skills demonstrated since
the establishment of the UHAS.
Mr. Amenorwode assured the management of UHAS that the Parliamentary
Committee of the Volta Caucus would develop a quarterly meeting with the
university authorities to enable the stakeholders to identify and find
lasting solutions to difficulties confronting, what he described as a
new and promising university.
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