UHAS holds maiden White Coat ceremony for pharmacy students
The University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) has inducted 30 pharmacy students into the clinical phase of their training at the maiden White Coat ceremony.
The short ceremony on the theme : "The dynamic role of the pharmacist in a digital age," was a rite of passage the students had to pass through in obtaining practical learning and subsequently becoming pharmacists.
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The Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Professor Alex Dodoo, delivering a speech as the guest speaker, said as healthcare professionals, it was important for pharmacists to uphold standards and principles in delivering their duties.
No competition
"As you begin your clinical practice and as you practise later, there should be no competition among you. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists should work together. You need to meet each patient at their point of need because if at any period, the patient does not understand what you mean, then you have failed," he said.
He described the ceremony as an iconic ritual that had become a symbolic hallmark of healthcare training institutions around the world, which inspired the zeal in students but more, importantly, to remind them of their responsibility to care for humanity.
Prof. Dodoo also urged them to “embrace new opportunities and learn from them so that you and your patient can benefit from your clinical rotation".
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Professor John Owusu Gyapong, who chaired the function, said the school, since its humble beginnings, had maintained an academic and clinical environment where all staff and students worked together to provide the highest level of medical and patient care.
Milestone
He commended the Founding Dean of the school, Professor Theophilus C. Fleischer, for making UHAS school of Pharmacy successful and its first batch of students reaching such milestone.
The Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Prof. Fleischer said though the school of pharmacy had faced numerous challenges, it surmounted all those challenges as they came, and had reached a milestone in the school's history, which would be recorded in the archives of UHAS.
Post graduate training
He disclosed that all was set to begin post graduate training programmes in pharmaceutical sciences and this, he said, would enhance growth and development of the school of pharmacy, and advised students to seriously make professionalism their prime concern as they entered into the stage of their training.
"We have gathered here for the white coat ceremony for our foundation students. This is a health transition among health professionals in training institutions.
“This should inform you of how far you have come. You are very close to achieving your dreams as pharmacists, therefore work hard and adopt the right attitude to work," he added.