Wa Na concerned over rumors of UDS course removal while Rotary donates $275,000 medical support to the Hospital The package valued at 275 thousand Dollars was donated by the Rotary Foundation, the Rotary Club of Wa as well as the Rotary Club of Rocky Mount, Virginia, USA and Benevolent World Changers. In this report, GBC’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo says the items included incubators, delivery beds, anesthesia machines, breast pumps, ultra-sound machines and blood chemistry analysers. Reacting to the concerns of the Wa-Naa, on the re-alignment of the courses in UDS, the Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Sulemana Alhassan pointed out that the NDC government had a decision on the autonomy of the campuses of the University for Development Studies through a Bill. He recalled that the autonomy of the various campuses of UDS was also one of NPP’s 2016 campaign promises to Ghanaians and gave an assurance that the government will change one of the clauses of the Bill which has “a five year moratorium on the introduction of new courses”. The Regional Minister was of the view that the review of the clause on the introduction of new courses will allay the fears of the people that when the campuses become autonomous, they will not be mandated to wait for five years before mounting new courses and that “the taking away of courses” or re-alignment of courses now cannot restrict an autonomous institution infuture. Alhaji Alhassan announced that government is seriously working,adding that “cabinet has met a number of times on the issue and the matter has even gone beyond cabinet now with the Attorney General being tasked to get us moving along this autonomy status of the variouscampuses of UDS”. “I know, it will not be long, we will be hearing fromthe government on the issue”, he revealed. This is how the Regional Minister allayed the fears of Wa-Naa: “We want to assure all of us here that as first and foremost citizens of the region and you are all aware, we have very respected brothers of ours who are in government and they, I want to assure you, including us will not sit down aloof and allow anything to happen to this campus, we want to assure you of that”. Alhaji Alhassan stated that: “the humanitarian role on which the Rotary club is anchored on is currently being seen here at the moment” and expressed appreciation to the benefactors to the gesture. The President of the Rotary Club of Wa, Rotarian Rosina Ta-ang Yenli told the gathering that the fastgaining popularity of UDS Hospital in Wa as the preferred health facility in the Upper West Region inspired them to donate to the Hospital. She said the project to reach out to the facility was initiated in the 2016/2017 Rotary year under her predecessor the Charter President, Martin Dery andan international partner, Walter Hughes who is the Past President of theRotary Club of Rocky Mount in Virginia, USA. Mrs. Yenli said inkeeping with Rotarian principle of committing resources to help humanity worldwide by creating “lasting change across the globe”, Rotary has reached out to some organizations and individuals through a number of interventions and activities. She said the Wa Club has drilled five boreholes in five communities, built 13 micro-flush toilets in Wa Municipality, trained eight artisans and donated text books and teaching materials to Nerikuteng Kindergarten and Primary School in Wa West Distrct among others. Mrs. Yenli continued that in partnership with Rotary Club of Windsor, Canada-1918, the Wa Club is undertaking a-110 thousand, 600 Dollar water expansion project in Jirapa Municipality for Vapuo and Dangbala communities. The project which started in June 2018 is scheduled to be completed and handed over to the communities in November 2018. She commended the management and staff of the Hospital for the good work they are doing and urged them to keep it up. The Acting Principal of the Wa Campus of UDS, Prof. Sylvester Z. Galaawho deputized for the Vice Chancellor of UDS, Prof. Gabriel Ayum Teye paid tribute to the benefactors for handing over what he termed “high-grade medical and equipment and consumables” to the University Hospital through collaborative efforts. Prof. Galaa observed that the Hospital became operational on November 1, 2015 with a vision to “be a leading technologically led health care serves provider in a timely manner”. He said the hospital which offers 24-hour services earlier, operated as a 20-bed capacity facility but it has now been upgraded to 30-capacity as a result of the support from Rotary. Prof Galaa announced that the hospital is the only place in the Upper West Region where endoscopic investigations and urological services can be accessed by patients. The Acting Principal recognized the efforts of the Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Thomas Moore Zielley who submitted aproposal through Wa Rotary Club leading to the actualization of the medical support to the hospital. The Director of Health Services of UDS, Dr. Kabiru Koredele Azeez was beside himself with joy, saying the donation from the rotary fraternity was gratifying and well-timed. He indicated that equipment will go a long way in helping the hospital to deliver curative healthcare adding that they will be evenly distributed to areas that they will be appropriately utilized to promote productivity to the admiration of the donors. Dr. Azeez stated that the University is exploring alternative ways of fund raising to procure a multi-purpose ambulance whilst soliciting support for an additional ambulance from outside the University community. Report by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo gbcghanaonline.com ---DECRYPTED---