By George Ernest Asare
“Moments after my name was mentioned as the overall best student at the just-ended 16th Oath-swearing and induction ceremony at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus, I felt very elated, and so were my mother and five siblings who had travelled from Accra to grace the occasion.
It was really a lovely moment, which will forever leave an indelible mark in my mind.” These were the words of Dr Esther Ofosu, who won the overall best Medical student award at the ceremony last Saturday.
She is now undertaking a two-year Housemanship at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.
“When the results came, I was told that I had been adjudged the overall best student, and while waiting for confirmation, I plunged into prayers to ensure that I would really receive what I was told earlier and surely it came to pass, for which I am grateful to God,” she poured out her heart during an interview with The Mirror.
“With this feat, I am going to dedicate my whole life to serve the sick, especially the needy. I will provide as much as I can to those who need my help and I will do it with the best of my ability. After my Housemanship, I will choose a field that will enhance my service to the sick and needy, and with God’s guidance, nothing will come between me and my goal,” she assured.
Dr Ofosu, who sees her profession as a call by God, said she would never relent on her goal by serving God through the sick, saying “I will never allow my position to get into my head because it is only when I am able to help the sick that I will get my gratitude and satisfaction and I believe that God will help me to do what I want to do.”
After scoring grade A’s in six subjects and two B’s during the Senior Secondary Examination in 2001, Dr Ofosu, whose childhood dream was to become a medical officer, had a lot of options open to her at the university.
Apart from Medicine, she also had the opportunity to study Architecture, Civil Engineering and Pharmacy and with the prospects in such programmes, she became confused in making a choice.
“As a child, I was always telling my father that I would become a medical officer when I grew up, but with such a high score at the SSSCE, I was confused in making a final choice of a programme to be offered at the university, and it was at that point that my father, now deceased, reminded me of my childhood dream, prompting me to plunge into medicine.”
“Having lived up to expectation and the additional honour of being adjudged the overall best student in Medicine, I do not regret selecting medicine as my career,” she noted.
At the SSSCE level, Dr Ofosu scored grade A’s in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, English, Core Mathematics and Core Science and grade B’s in Elective Mathematics and Social Studies.
She won the heart of the audience, when she picked the overall best student in MB and ChB Final Part II awards and therefore went home with the proud Ghana Medical Association prize.
In all, 98 medical students, comprising 62 males and 36 females, graduated during the ceremony.
“I now love what I am doing, and am very much committed to my profession and therefore thank my father very much for that encouragement, which has now brought me to this level,” quipped Dr Ofosu.
On how she was able to achieve such feat, she said, “It was not easy at all because studying medicine at the university is a different ball game all together. It is totally different from studying at the senior high school level.
This is because you need to know how to study and what to study when offering medicine at the university. You also need to put into practice what you have learnt.
Again you have to sieve important information from books and apply it proficiently, and this puts a lot of pressure on you as a student, not only to excel but do the right thing all the time. This was a challenge, and it took some time for me to come to terms with studying medicine.”
She said when she became well versed in applying what she was learning, “I just kept moving on until I finally graduated.”
She explained that with the award, “I stand out as one of the best in Paediatrics, Medicine, Surgery, as well as Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
It also means that in every field, I am capable of performing to satisfaction.”
She said studying medicine “is not about what you know. God plays a very important role, so even though I studied very hard, I also made sure to pray regularly and invited God to guide me in all my programmes. I can, therefore, say that there was the hand of God in propelling me to achieve this feat, and I am most grateful to God for bringing me this far.”
She added, “I really wanted to graduate from the medical school with something, so I started praying for it very early, and God listened to my prayers, making me to obtain what I wanted.”
On the prospects of the award, she said “I hope it will motivate my colleagues at Yaa Asantewaa Senior High to focus on their academic programmes because with hard work, they can also excel. I also want to mentor the youth for them to appreciate the fact that they can achieve any goal they set their minds on, provided they work very hard.”
She prayed to God to continue guiding her to enable her to become one of the best medical officers in the country.
Dr Esther Ofosu was born at the Police Hospital in Accra 25 years ago to the late Samuel Baffour Ofosu, who was an agricultural researcher and Mrs Pricilla Ofosu, a businesswoman.
Being the third of six children, including three females, one of whom is a medical officer at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Dr Ofosu attended Morning Star Basic School in Accra, from where she went to Yaa Asantewaa Senior High School at Tanoso, near Kumasi.
She expressed gratitude to her parents, especially her father, who provided the needed foundation in life before departing to his creator. She was also grateful to her mother and siblings, as well as her fiancé, who is a pharmacist.
“He had provided the needed support since I met him seven years ago, and I cherish all he had done for me,” she noted.
She is preparing to tie the knot with him in November this year.
To her teachers at the basic school, as well as her headmistress at Yaa Asantewaa and her lecturers at the university, she asked for God’s blessings for them in all their endeavours.
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