Evacuation & Integration Records of Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s Government: 106 Ghanaian Medical Students Evacuated from Ukraine were Integrated into Ghanaian Medical Schools under the Chairmanship of Dr. Nsiah Asare
The government of Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in 2022 set up a 13-member Inter-ministerial Committee under the chairmanship & leadership of Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare with the mandate of putting together the roadmap, framework, and modalities for the integration of all Ghanaian medical students who were evacuated from Ukraine by the government due to the Russia-Ukraine War.
For the record, Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s government evacuated over 1000 Ghanaian Students from Ukraine whose higher education got truncated due to the war between Russia and Ukraine which began in 2022.
As part of the integration process, the Medical students among the over 1000 students evacuated from Ukraine were given the window of opportunity by Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s government to continue their education in Ghana without any form of stress and admission impediments. The non-Medical students were also offered different integration packages and opportunities.
A total of 187 Medical students initially expressed their interest and desire to further their education in the Medical Schools in Ghana but only 117 registered with the Ghana Medical and Dental Council(GMDC) to partake in the assessment earmarked for subsequent admissions and integration across the seven(7) Medical Schools established in Ghana.
Out of the registered number of 117, only 101 availed themselves for vetting and assessment processes duly organised by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council(GMDC) in partnership with all the stakeholders tasked by Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s government to ensure a successful integration of the qualified Medical students.
After the assessment by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, 100 Medical students were declared successful as one of the 101 Medical students was disqualified due to the fact that it was discovered that before the war broke out in Ukraine, he had left Medical School to pursue economics degree programme for more than three years. Later, 6 more medical students were assessed and added to the 100 bringing the total qualified Medical students to 106.
Based on their choices of Medical Schools in Ghana, the 106 qualified Medical students were subsequently placed in level 100(or first year), level 200(or second year), level 300(or third year), level 400(or fourth year), and level 500(or fifth year).
None of the 106 qualified Medical students was placed in level 600(or sixth year) because of the course structure differences between Ghanaian Medical Schools and Ukrainian Medical Schools particularly, the curriculum and practical training at the level 600(or sixth year) are completely difference across the two juridictions especially for the Clinical practical training aspect of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery(MBChB or MBBS).
The Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee, Dr. Nsiah Asare stated that, the integration of the Ghanaian Medical students from Ukraine into Medical Schools in Ghana was in full alignment with the commitment of Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s government of training more health professionals to fill the various vacancies available in the health institutions/hospitals/clinics across the country more significantly, the ambitious Agenda 111 Hospitals project of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s government.
I would like to urge Mahama’s government to also consider offering the window of opportunity to the evacuated Ghanaian students from South Africa to continue their education in Ghana following the blue print of Akufo-Addo/Bawumia’s government more especially the students with Medical and STEM backgrounds.
*Writer: Razak Kojo Opoku(PhD)*