KNUST VC advocates higher-level training for Ghana’s future health workforce

The Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has called for a shift from diploma-level training to Bachelor of Science programmes in specialised health fields, saying the country’s healthcare system needs more highly skilled professionals.

Professor Christian Agyare made the call at the 13th graduation ceremony of the Ministry of Health’s affiliated training institutions, where more than 24,000 students from 76 colleges across Ghana were awarded diplomas.

He said increasingly complex healthcare needs, advances in medical practice and growing demand for specialised care required Ghana to rethink how it trains its health workforce.

“This presents an important opportunity and an urgent responsibility for us to rethink how we prepare our health workforce for the future,” Agyare said.

“We must therefore move deliberately from diploma-level training towards BSc education in specialised fields,” he added, calling for a clear framework and implementation roadmap to guide the transition.