According to him, the phenomenon continues to hamper the training of students, adding that five out of six schools are being run in temporary structures.
He, therefore, appealed to government to provide the university with basic infrastructure to enhance the university deliver effectively on its core mandate of training highly skilled health professionals.

Prof. Gyapong made the appeal at the university’s second congregation held on the main campus in Sokode-Lokoe in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region.

“We have major infrastructure deficit, academic and residential facilities are almost non-existent. Only one out of eight of our schools (School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences) has been built; none of our three institutes have been built.

“We think that there should be some equity in the distribution of resources as was done for University of Ghana, KNUST and UCC at their inception.

“So we are appealing to government to give us basic minimum infrastructure to be able to operate. As we speak now, we don’t have a single hall of residence, so our students have no clue what being in a JCR means,” he said.
He also pleaded with government to ensure a swift completion of the conversion of the Volta Regional Hospital into a teaching hospital for use by the university.

Prof. Gyapong, however, indicated that despite the numerous challenges, the university has made tremendous strides by establishing an Institute of Health Research and introduced a Pharmacy programme into the school’s curriculum.

Justice Jones Dotse, a Supreme Court Judge and Chairman of the University’s Council, gave the assurance that the newly constituted Council would ensure UHAS delivers on its core mandate.

He admonished the newly trained health professionals to uphold ethics of their profession in the discharge of their duties.

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, implored on the graduands to accept posting to any part of the country in line with their duty to serve humanity.
He pledged government’s commitment to the development of the university to its full capacity.

A total of 376 students graduated from the schools of Basic and Biomedical Sciences, Public Health, Allied Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy and Public Health.
The graduands were presented with Bachelor of Science degree in disciplines such as Dietetics, Midwifery, Nursing, Physician Assistantship, Medical Laboratory Sciences, and Public Health with options in Health Promotion, Nursing, Nutrition, Health Information, Disease Control and Environmental Health.
UHAS, which was established in 2012 with a student population of 154, now has over 3,700 students. Eighteen academic programmes are currently being run in six out of the eight stipulated schools.