Tamale, May 4, GNA - The University for Development Studies' (UDS) Medical School has a good foundation for academic progress to bolster healthcare delivery, particularly in northern Ghana, a UK-based medical consultant has noted.

Dr John Eugene Pollet, a distinguished medical expert currently visiting the Tamale Teaching Hospital, also called on the authorities to pay attention to the deplorable state of the Hospital, saying it is a crucial facility for medical students in their clinical studies. He was speaking at a farewell dinner organised in his honour in Tamale at the weekend by the Northern Ghana Aid (NOGAID), a non-governmental organisation after he undertook a 10-week working visit to the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

During the period, Dr Pollet interacted with the academic staff and students of the UDS medical school on areas of collaboration to improve academic work there.

He said Tamale had the potentials to become a healthcare delivery hub of the entire north if measures were put in place to improve existing facilities at the Teaching Hospital to support studies by the medical students. "I have visited many hospitals including those in Cairo and Malawi but what I have seen in Tamale is the prospects of progress, particularly for the UDS Medical School, if proper attention is given to the Teaching Hospital," he reiterated. Dr Pollet said there was a big gap between hospitals in the north and those of the South and called for an affirmative action to bridge it.

Dr Ken Sagoe, Chief Executive Officer of the TTH said Dr Pollet's short stay with the hospital and the UDS Medical School had been beneficial in terms of imparting knowledge and appealed for the continuation of the partnership.

He enumerated problems facing the Hospital, which he said used to be the third best equipped health facility in the country in the 1970's after Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye and expressed the hope that it could regain its lost glory if given the needed attention. Mr Mustapha Sanah, Executive Director of NOGAID, said his outfit would continue to facilitate a steady flow of visiting doctors from the UK and the United States to complement staffing in hospitals in the northern part of the country.

He said the endemic poverty in the north was also as a result of poor conditions of healthcare delivery and gave the assurance that NOGAID would continue to work with its partners to fight hunger, disease and illiteracy in the area. Dr Pollet is the twelfth visiting medical professional sponsored to the region by NOGAID in 2008 under a collaborative partnership with Doctors World Wide (DWW), a UK-based international charity.