The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Valco Trust Fund and Bekwai Municipal Hospital to facilitate the construction of a student hostel.
This initiative seeks to address accommodation challenges facing clinical students on rotation at Bekwai Municipal Hospital.
Speaking at the ceremony, Provost College of health sciences, KNUST, Prof. Christian Agyare expressed gratitude for the partnership, emphasizing the importance of providing adequate accommodation for students to enhance their academic experience.
“We possess the necessary resources and intend to send our clinical students to Bekwai Municipal Government Hospital over the next three years. However, accommodation shortages at the hospital have posed a challenge. To address this issue, we initiated discussions for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the hospital. This MOU serves to assure them of our commitment to sending students there, prompting our collaboration on its draft over the past eighteen months,” he said.
The project, which is expected to commence in a few months, will be situated close to the Bekwai Municipal Hospital campus to provide convenient access for students.
The initiative will also include a 100-seater capacity lecture hall with offices.
Executive Director for Valco Trust Fund, Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah emphasized that the purpose of the facility extends beyond student accommodation, but also serves as a tribute to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
He also indicated that a professional facility Management Company will be engaged to ensure the proper maintenance of the public facility.
“We intend to honor Otumfuo’s 25th anniversary by recognizing his contribution to our hostel facility at Komfo Anokye. To avoid past issues, we’ll engage a professional facility management company. It’s clear that as public officials, we struggle with maintaining public buildings, and we’re determined to prevent a recurrence,” he mentioned.
Highlighting the challenges of establishing new medical schools, Medical superintendent for Bekwai Municipal Hospital, Dr. Frank Serebour emphasized the importance of a centralized teaching system between the University and its affiliated institutions.
“Schools like Sunyani Medical School can send their students to KNUST for the same lecturers to train them and ensure that we have quality products. This approach will allow for consistent training and assurance, enhancing the medical education landscape,” he noted.
He proposed a gradual expansion of the centralized teaching sites to accommodate more aspiring medical professionals.
He believes it would tackle current challenges in medical education and ensure the delivery of high-quality healthcare services.
“I think this is a good thing and i believe that once this is done, other teaching sides should also be considered and gradually we can expand so that we can have more people who want to pursue medical education,” he said.
Member of Parliament for Asante Bekwai, Mr Osei Owusu also welcomed the initiative.
“For me this is a dream come true. Today is a major event for me and I’m happy that we are going to Bekwai,” he said.