Government To Rename University of Health and Allied Sciences After Late President John Atta Mills

• The Education Minister has announced plans to rename the University of Health and Allied Sciences
• The university in Ho will be named after the late former president John Evans Atta Mills, under whose tenure the university was established
• The University of Health and Allied Sciences is the first public university to be established in the Volta Region

The government has announced plans to rename the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Ho as the John Evans Atta Mills University of Health and Allied Sciences, in honour of the late former Head of State.

The announcement was made on May 28, 2025, by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu during the inauguration of the university’s new Governing Council.

Mills notably started the establishment of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, which began operations in 2012.

Iddrisu said the renaming was an act of gratitude to Mills.

“Professor Mills believed in human development as the bedrock of our progress, and UHAS was one of his most enduring dreams.”

The late President John Evans Atta Mills took office in 2009 and died in office in 2012.

The Chair of the newly constituted Governing Council, Professor Kodzo Gavua, hailed the move as “deeply symbolic and appropriate.”

“It is not only an honour for the late President Mills, but also a challenge to all of us—faculty, staff, and students—to uphold the values he stood for: discipline, service, scholarship, and patriotism."

About the University of Health and Allied Sciences

UHAS is the first public university to be established in the Volta Region.

It is also the only state university in Ghana wholly dedicated to the training of healthcare professionals.

Its current Vice Chancellor is Professor Lydia Aziato, who assumed office in August 2022.

UHAS runs 22 undergraduate and several postgraduate programmes in eight schools.

These are the School of Allied Health Sciences, School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Pharmacy, Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, and School of Sports and Exercise Medicine.

The new School of Dentistry is being incubated in the School of Medicine.UHAS also has two institutes, i.e., the Institute of Health Research and the Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine.

A third institute, which is the Institute of Medical Education, is yet to be established.

About Mills' passing

Mills died on July 24, 2012, three days after celebrating his 68th birthday.

Mills, also a former vice president, died at the 37 Military Hospital. He was reportedly suffering from throat cancer. But some of his family have claimed he was killed by a sinus infection.

There has not been an official cause of death released in the years since the passing.

Family's chase for autopsy

YEN.com.gh reported that Mills' family requested a copy of the late president's autopsy report in 2024.

The family, led by Nana Enyimfua III, made the request during a visit to then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The request from the Mills' family came more than 11 years after he died at the 37 Military Hospital.

Proofreading by Samuel Gitonga, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh