By: Rachel Kakraba
He can best be described as an inspiration to young persons and an asset whose talent and academic feat must be nurtured for all budding talents to aspire to.
Dr. Nathaniel Cudjoe recently swept 16 out of 22 awards at the 55th graduation of the University of Cape Coast.
The Twenty-five-year-old neurologist Nathaniel Nii Cudjoe who is currently undertaking his housemanship at the 37 Military hospital, was the toast of patrons at the 55th graduation ceremony of the University of Cape Coast, in the Central Region.
Appearing on GTV Breakfast, on the Easter Monday edition of the show which celebrated his exploits, the young medical doctor disclosed his dream of pursuing medicine was always inspired by childhood movies he watched.
For him, contributing to national development through medicine is one that he does not take for granted.
“It’s a dream I have had since childhood. Growing up as you watch movies and you saw doctors go about their duties, there was something that I really admired.”
He attributes his success to God, a supportive family and lecturers. He said management of time is also crucial to success as well as perseverance.
“It’s more of a combination of factors, first of all I want to say it’s all by the grace of God. As a Christian I believe that to actually win 16 awards is not something that comes ordinarily, so I want to say its just by the grace of God. Secondly, I want to say that I got a lot of support from my parents, my uncles, my aunties and my siblings as well. Also my lecturers they were also very supportive as well. If I’m sitting here right now and I’m a doctor it is because I was trained by my senior colleagues, so I want to say thank you to them as well.”
Dr. Cudjoe added that “I will also like to talk about perseverance. The journey is not always a smooth journey there are always ups and downs, so even when you’re in your down moment you should know how to manage your time. You should also see the down moment as a learning curve and learn from your mistakes.”
Although an introvert, Dr. Cudjoe says he combines social life with academics.
“I had a social life, I had friends that I used to move around with. I’m not more of an outdoor person, I’m fairly indoors, but being indoors does not necessarily mean you’re always sitting behind your book. I don’t think that is feasible, you can’t actually be sitting behind your books for 24 hours, its not possible. So there are other things that I was doing. I love watching movies a lot, funny enough not the medical related ones, because you need a break”
He disagrees with suggestions that the UCC has a more rigorous academic system, which stifles excellence of students.
For him the academic structure is one that is designed with students in mind, especially as it contributes to extraordinary performance in both academics and the field of work.
Dr. Cudjoe has plans of establishing a facility that takes care of the health needs of stroke patients. For him stroke related deaths are as result of complications which is contributing to the high mortality rate of the disease.
“I’ve realized that for most stroke patients it’s the complications of the stroke that becomes a problem for them. Most of the mortality that comes out of this is a result of the complications. So personally I thought that if we have a special facility where you can train all the staff, so that some these complications can be reduced and managed properly, it will go a long way to reduce the mortality”.
Dr. Nathaniel Nii Cudjoe, appealed for better incentives for medical doctors especially those posted to rural areas to curb the worrying trend of brain drain.
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