UKGCC donates to UGMC

The UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC), a member-based trade association that promotes bilateral trade between the UK and Ghana, has donated GHS50,000.00 to support the establishment of a clinical trials unit at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC).

The funds were raised during the UKGCC’s recreation of the first Royal Ascot Ladies Day Experience Event in Ghana held at the Polo Court Gardens, Accra on 18th June 2022, and formally presented to the UGMC team in a ceremony with Mrs. Lucy Brimpong Ofori-Ayeh, Chairperson of the UGMC Medical and Scientific Research Centre (MSRC) Fundraising Committee, in attendance.

During the presentation, Anthony Pile, UKGCC Board Chairman and Founder of Blue Skies, said “We are hugely impressed with Lucy and her team. Embarking on this clinical trials unit project, I think, will make a difference not just to Ghana but frankly to all of us within the ECOWAS region.

It is something that the UKGCC feels very strongly about; supporting all elements, all aspects of advancing medical progress and I think this just illustrates the importance to both parties of how we feel about the work UGMC is doing. I also feel that UKGCC is doing a great job now reaching out to those very many elements of Ghanaian industrial, social, and civil society to make the progress that is needed so importantly within Ghana,” she said.

Mrs. Ofori-Ayeh, for her part, expressed her gratitude, on behalf of the Board of Directors, Management, and Staff of the UGMC, to the UKGCC for their generous donation towards the establishment of the clinical trials unit.

The support, she remarked, “will go a long way to make a dream come true”.

She explained that “most of the clinical trials that are being carried out for new medicines are done elsewhere, not in Africa, nor with African subjects and the genetic makeup of the trial participants are different from ours. So, this will be a chance for us to try the medicines that are coming on board with our own people to ensure the medicines are fit for purpose. Again, there are so many herbal products in the country that could potentially cure many ailments, but the scientific trials have not been done. A proper clinical trials unit at UGMC can do these trials to international standards and help validate some of these treatments. Moreover, something produced in Ghana will be accessible to the vast majority of Ghanaians and other Africans.

Present at the presentation were Alice Asafu-Adjaye, UKGCC Executive Council Member; Adjoba Kyiamah, UKGCC Executive Director; Kwame Boakye, Director of Internal Audit, UGMC; Nana Adwoa Konadu Dsane, Deputy Director, MSRC; and staff of the UKGCC.

UKGCC appeals to other organisations and individuals to support the establishment of the centre slated to be completed by the end of this year, through donations to the accounts.