Kintampo College of Health to be upgraded to University College
The College of Health and Well-Being, Kintampo (CoHK), a diploma and higher diploma awarding institution, has since May 2015 received authorization to be upgraded to a University College, Mr. Isaac Azindow, the acting Principal of the College has announced.
He said the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Executive Secretary of the Health Training Secretariat and the government of Ghana, are acting together to support the College to facilitate an institutional affiliation process to be shared between the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Cape Coast.
Mr. Azindow made the announcement at the first ever alumni home-coming event of the College at Kintampo in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
Under the shared arrangement, Mr. Azindow, said programmes including Community Oral Health, Registered Dental Surgery Assistants, Nutrition, Disease Control and Surveillance, Health Information, Laboratory Technology, Health Promotion and Health Record Management, will be under the ambit of KNUST.
The UCC will also be responsible for Post Basic Medical Assistant, Direct Physician Assistants, Clinical Psychiatry, Community Mental Health Officers and Clinical Dermatology programmes, the acting Principal added.
The acting head of the college, indicated that accreditation inspection of facilities by the National Accreditation Board, has already been done to pave way for the College’s accreditation soon.
The two-day get-together, attended by the College’s alumni in professional practice across the country aimed at updating them about the present state of the institution to identify how they could contribute in different ways to boost its infrastructure development to meet its present status.
It was also to inform them of the opportunities their alma mater’s elevation would provide for their individual professional development or academic progression.
The acting Principal observed the alumni had the human capital and financial resource capacity to support the College to grow at a faster rate and catch-up with other tertiary institutions.
With effective collaboration, the College and the alumni could make a great difference in the development of competent health human resource for Ghana, the West-African sub-region and beyond, he added.
Mr. Azindow mentioned students and staff accommodation, lecture halls and transport for both students’ field practical activities and for tutors supervision as some of their major infrastructural challenges.
Mr. George Kumi Kyeremeh, Director- General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) represented Mr. Alex Segbefia, the Minister of Health has collaborated with government to upgrade the College into a full-fledged degree-awarding institution.
Mr. Kyeremeh expressed the hope those degree programmes when mounted would have priority for the continuing professional development of the College’s alumni.
Mr. Lawrence Odartey Lawson, the acting Executive Secretary, Health Training Institutions Secretariat at the Health Ministry announced that his outfit was procuring text-books in hard copies and electronic CD versions for the training institutions and assured that CoHK was on the list of beneficiaries to enhance its teaching and learning.
Some of the old students interviewed including Mr. Clement Avoka, their President commended the Management and staff of the College for organizing the home-coming programme and expressed their willingness to support the Governing Board and Management to move the institution forward.
Source: GNA