Ghana’s first medical school was established in February 1966 to train medical professionals for the country’s medical needs and also train other West African countries’ medical professionals. Despite this feat and the subsequent establishment of four additional medical schools, Ghana still suffers a huge deficit in training medical personnel to meet social demand. The provision of human resources in adequate quantity, with appropriate competence to provide health care services is critical to scaling up health interventions in any country, yet every year many students with good grades applying for admission into the public medical schools are rejected due to the limited capacity in these institutions. This low intake in turn reflects on the poor doctor to population ratio. Ghana, has a ratio of one doctor to 10,452 people, according to the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda [2010-2013] instead of the one doctor to 5,000 recommended by the Commonwealth; and the one doctor to 1, 320 by the World Health Organization.
The situation is even worse in the rural areas and the northern parts of the country. This woefully inadequate doctor to patient ratio over the years has made the training of more health professionals and the establishment of additional training institutions imperative. It is against this backdrop that the first private medical school, Family Health Medical School, [FHMS] Ghana’s Premiere Private Medical School was established in April, 2015, forty Nine Years after the establishment of Ghana’s first public medical school(1966). FHMS, the teaching arm of the Family Health Hospital, has Prof. Yao Kwawukume as President and Founder and Dr. Susu Bridget Kwawukume, Director of the hospital as Co-founder. What started as a diagnostic centre from a garage in 1997, a private dream of a medical team, has evolved into the first private teaching hospital with a nursing training school and now in addition a medical school all comprising The Family Health Group. FHMS is affiliated to the University of Ghana and Ghana Medical School, accredited by the National Accreditation Board and recognized by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council.
The Family Health Medical School has a vision of advancing human health by encouraging distinction within an inclusive community. It hopes to attract and develop a talented academic workforce in an enriched intellectual and technological environment to nurture exceptionally creative research and education. It further envisages cultivating and maintaining clinical programs to provide outstanding care and provide the highest standards of ethics, integrity and compassionate care. The main mission of FHMS is to lead in advancing human health through innovative research, clinical care and educating the next leaders in medicine in a culture that supports critical thinking, inclusion, diversity and innovation.
The FHMS offers a five and half year[5 1/2] Undergraduate and a four year[4] Graduate Medical Programme in the BSc [Med Sci] and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery [MB CHB] Degree Programs. Entry requirements are a good 1st degree in the sciences , not less than a second class lower for the Graduate Medical Program; and a WASSCE/ SSSCE, IGCSE/GCE [Cambridge- ‘O’and’A’levels], International Baccalaureate [IB] certificates with credit passes [A1-C6] or better in three Core Subjects in addition to any three Elective Subjects in the Sciences for the Undergraduate Program.
The Family Health Medical School is equipped with ultra-modern facilities like an E-Library, the Tim Johnson Library Complex, which enjoys collaboration with the University of Michigan Medical School; Tele-Medicine which enables students interact and experience lecturers from America, Europe and Asia. Students are exposed to an intensive study of the human anatomy with real Cadavers in a very spacious and comfortable Anatomy Hall very early in the program. They also have unrestricted access to the Cadavers Lodge [mortuary] to facilitate and enhance their studies. Lectures are conducted in very modern, spacious and relaxed Air Conditioned Lecture Rooms and have well equipped modern laboratories for Physiology/ Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Chemical Pathology and an Intracytoplasmic sperm injection equipment students. We are getting to the end of the first semester of the second year and we have a total of fifty students.
Family health medical school has affiliation with the Family Health Teaching Hospital for the study of anatomy. In addition to being taught by renowned national and international lecturers and professors, the school has an advantage of being on the same premises with the Family Health Teaching Hospital, 24 x 7 days a week teaching hospital for their clinical training and ward exposure. The hospital runs specialist medical services to the public in the areas of Surgical, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Eye Clinic, Pediatrics, Dietetic Clinic, Ear, Nose and Throat [ENT], Orthopaedic, Genito-Urinary, Dermatology, Opthamology, Diabetology and Cardiology. Hostel accommodation and cafeteria services are available on campus overlooking and sharing boundary with the Atlantic Ocean, rendering the atmosphere with a serene and tranquil ambience for a unique learning experience. You can locate Family Health Medical School in Accra, Ghana, on the Labadi Beach Hotel to Tema beach road, opposite the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre. The medical school started in 2015- 2016 academic year.
- In the first year we matriculated 16
- • 37 Military Hospital
- • Ridge Hospital
- • La General Hospital
- • Tema General Hospital
- • LEKMA General Hospital
- • Akosombo (VRA) Hospital
Family Health Medical School, Setting the New Standard in Medical Education.
