The overall best-graduating medical student at the 55^th Congregation of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has lamented the brain drain in the health sector.

Nathaniel Nii Codjoe said a major challenge currently facing the health sector is the emigration of young health professionals from the country to other countries to seek greener pastures.

He added that this can be detrimental to the country’s well-being and believes that a conducive and innovative environment must be created to keep these young professionals in the country to also contribute with the knowledge acquired.

“Then also there’s this problem of brain drain that is coming up again, a lot of our professionals are leaving the country, and it’s also the young professionals who are leaving the country and not the older ones.

“So I think there should be innovative ways to try and create an environment where the young professionals will love to stay in the country and contribute to the country,” he advised.

Dr Codjoe also noted that even though a lot of improvements have been made in the health sector, there is still more room for improvement.

He specifically mentioned infrastructure to help accommodate the increasing number of trained health workers.

“I think as time has gone on there are a lot of improvements that we’ve already seen in the field of medicine in terms of infrastructure, training of more health personnel.

"In every system, there is still a lot of room for improvement so there is still a lot that can be done in terms of infrastructure.

“Because as time goes on, we’re training a lot more medical doctors and it’s important to have the facilities to absorb them into the system,” he said.

Dr Codjoe swept 16 out of the 22 awards at the UCC’s 55th Congregation on Thursday, during the second session of the programme held for the College of Health and Allied Sciences.

He was adjudged the best in Medical Biochemistry, Physiology, Microbiology, Community Medicine, Chemical Pathology, and Pharmacology.

He further picked the Best Clinical Student, Best Graduating Pre-Clinical Student, Overall Performance, Best Student in Family Medicine, and Molecular Medicine with Certificate awards.

The rest are Best Student in MB ChB Final Part II, and Best Student in Ear, Nose and Throat Rotation.

Unable to hide his excitement, the vicenarian grinned from ear to ear, amid cheers, applause, and a standing ovation from the congregation, as Professor Rosemond Boohene, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of UCC, continuously sang his name.

Dr Codjoe’s exploits have since shot him into fame on the internet, sparking debates and tonnes of congratulatory messages from netizens.