The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Valco Trust Fund and Bekwai Municipal Hospital to develop a student hostel.
This collaboration aims to tackle accommodation issues encountered by clinical students during their rotations at the Bekwai Municipal Hospital.
During the event, Prof. Christian Agyare, the Provost of the College of Health Sciences at KNUST, conveyed appreciation for the partnership and stressed the significance of offering sufficient accommodation for students to enrich their academic journey.
“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 upcoming project, slated to begin in a few months, will be located near the Bekwai Municipal Hospital campus, offering convenient access for students.
Additionally, the initiative will feature a 100-seat lecture hall along with office spaces.
Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah, the Executive Director of Valco Trust Fund, underscored that the facility’s purpose extends beyond student housing, serving as a tribute to Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
Furthermore, he mentioned plans to engage a professional facility management company to ensure the proper upkeep 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.
Dr. Frank Serebour, the Medical Superintendent of Bekwai Municipal Hospital, underscored the difficulties involved in establishing new medical schools and emphasized the significance 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 suggested a phased expansion of the centralized teaching sites to accommodate a larger number of prospective medical practitioners.
He contends that this approach would address existing challenges in medical education and guarantee the provision of top-tier 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.