The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has bemoaned how the government is unable to provide academic
The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has bemoaned how the government is unable to provide academic opportunities for Ghanaian students who have returned from Ukraine to complete their medical courses.
Due to the Russian attack on Ukraine, the government through commendable efforts in March managed to bring home some willing Ghanaian students.
Unfortunately, the opportunities given to these students have been scarce, leaving many frustrated as they continually stress they have regretted leaving Ukraine.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the current situation is heartbreaking and very depressing.
“It is acutely heartbreaking and extremely depressing that after all these weeks since their evacuation from Ukraine, our country cannot guarantee academic opportunities for these medical students to complete their courses,” the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament wrote on his Facebook wall this afternoon.
The Minority MP adds, “Leadership must be embarrassed that our students who fled the war are now publicly proclaiming that they regret leaving Ukraine — this is most ignominious seeing that the war which is far from over has been so devastating recording 2,435 civilian deaths as certified this week by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which also reports that over 11 million Ukrainians have left their country.”
According to Mr. Ablakwa, the situation is unbelievable taking into consideration the fact that Ghana is in dire need of medical doctors due to the current precarious doctor-to-population ratio of 1:6,355 which is nowhere near the WHO prescribed standard of 1:1,000.
Read the full post on the MP’s Facebook page below:
We must not become a country that crashes the noble dreams and aspirations of its young generation.
It is acutely heartbreaking and extremely depressing that after all these weeks since their evacuation from Ukraine, our country cannot guarantee academic opportunities for these medical students to complete their courses.
Leadership must be embarrassed that our students who fled the war are now publicly proclaiming that they regret leaving Ukraine — this is most ignominious seeing that the war which is far from over has been so devastating recording 2,435 civilian deaths as certified this week by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which also reports that over 11 million Ukrainians have left their country. I hope poor leadership isn’t compelling our students to think that being in war-ravaged Ukraine is better than returning to their homeland?
This is a really unbelievable situation for Ghana which is in dire need of medical doctors considering that our current precarious doctor-to-population ratio of 1:6,355 is nowhere near the WHO prescribed standard of 1:1,000.
Only a couple of weeks ago, the World Bank reminded us that other African countries are doing much better than Ghana as we ranked 14th in sub-Saharan Africa on the doctor-to-population ranking.
Our country desperately needs more medical doctors — policymakers must exhibit the required creative awareness.
Since my Romanian visit to assist our young student compatriots fleeing the Ukrainian war and all the way to the 17th of March, 2022 statement I delivered in Parliament, I have consistently appealed to government to fashion out an arrangement with Ghanaian medical schools to absorb our returnees from Ukraine — most of whom were in the final year of studies.
As we today commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of our nation’s founder, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah in Bucharest, Romania (instructively, the same place I travelled to meet our traumatized students) — we ought to remember the Osagyefo’s legacy of how he inspired young black people by removing barriers and unleashing their full potential to conquer the world.
By introducing free tuition at all levels and establishing our first medical school, Kwame Nkrumah championed the dignity and dreams of young Ghanaians. He will be restlessly turning in his grave at how current leaders have gained notoriety for frustrating and killing the ambitions of the youth — this must stop, enough is enough!
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