[1][2] The plan to set up a medical school on the Gold Coast was drawn up after the establishment of the Korle Bu Hospital in 1919 at the time, Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg.
[1][2] It was decided medical courses would be introduced in a step-by-step fashion, as originally espoused by the University of London delegation in 1951.
[1][2] In 1956, the University Council Committee under the leadership of the institution's first principal, David Balme, was formed to suggest other avenues for founding the school.
[1][2] By 1960, the year Ghana became a republic, there was still no pathway for implementation as Korle Bu was not equipped for clinical training and funds were unavailable for its expansion.
[1][2] The US government appointed a team led by physician, Paul Connerlly to review all previous assessments.
[1][2] To streamline these differences, admitted sixth formers were to go through a two-year pre-medical science course prior to the actual medical training.
[1][2] Within a year of the programme, the American Dean informed the government that he was unable to find lecturers in the basic sciences.
In February 1964, Ghana's first president decided to wholly rely on domestic sources of funding and manpower to establish the full medical school.
[1][2] The medical school now operates through seventeen departments, namely departments of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, chemical pathology, haematology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, anaesthesia, paediatrics, community health, medicine and therapeutics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, radiology and surgery.
Specifically, the college aims to train: The school curriculum has gone through periodic reviews in line with national health needs and contemporary trends in medical education.
[1][2] A new curriculum was introduced in 2009 and two classes were simultaneously admitted: secondary school students and bachelor's degree holders in the natural sciences for the Graduate Entry Medical Programme (GEMP).
The Ghanaian government also provided a high-capacity medical library for the UGMS through budgetary support and GET Fund allocation.
The school strives to achieve gender parity in its admissions, with women guaranteed a minimum of 25% of the incoming class.
[5] In the 1980s, due to an economic downturn from the structural adjustment programme in Ghana, the school faced an exodus of its faculty to institutions abroad which led to a reduction in the student intake.
[1][2] There is also an “internal brain drain” as result of a wage gap between clinical teaching staff and consultants in the Ministry of Health whose compensation far exceed that of the UGMS professors.
[1][2] In the 1990s and 2000s, before the Tamale hospital was upgraded to a teaching hospital, the UGMS hosted students from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University for Development Studies (UDS) for pre- and para-clinical and full clinical training leading to the earning of UDS degrees.
[1][2] The University of Ghana Dental School started in 1974 under the aegis of the UGMS, before attaining full faculty status in 1992.
[1][2] The UGMS played a critical role in the curriculum development for the establishment of the University of Cape Coast Medical School.
[1][2] The UGMS plans to construct simulated laboratories to meet increased demand while making use of peripheral hospitals for clinical training.