The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Reverend Professor Emmanuel Adow Obeng, on Tuesday cut the sod and planted a commemorative tree to commence the construction of a five billion cedis administration block for the UCC’s proposed School of Medical Sciences(SMS) slated to take off in January next year. The three-storey block, which construction is single-handedly being borne by Mr Kennedy Adjepong, MP of Assin-north, is expected to be completed within six months and would among other facilities, contain more than 35 offices and two conference rooms. The MP has already provided ¢500 million. The proposed school has been given a three-year interim accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for the running of the Basic Sciences component of a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programmes. Forty-six pioneer students have already been selected to be admitted into the school. Rev. Prof Obeng, expressed immense gratitude to Mr Adjepong, whom he described as the first individual to undertake such a project, as well as to Maersk Ghana Limited and other organisations that have so far supported the school. He explained that funds for the proposed school, was mainly from the UUC’s coffers and appealed for more assistance from other organizations and individuals. The chairman of the school project implementation committee, Professor Kobina Yankson, said students of the UCC SMS, would undertake part of their training within the communities to make it easier for them to work in the rural areas on completion of their training. He said the school, would place emphasis both on curative and preventive health care delivery in order to enhance health care delivery, particularly, within rural communities. He also commended Mr Adjepong for his support and said he was helping the university to meet the health aspect of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Prof Yankson said the establishment of the SMS was imperative to increase the current number of 1,600 doctors and to help bridge the gap in the ratio of one doctor to about 1,500 patients. Source: GNA