Planted In PERSCO, Blooming in Medicine: A Profile of the St. Peter’s SHS NSMQ 2004 Team
18 years after representing St. Peter’s SHS in the NSMQ Final, Ernest Yeboah, Shelter Bakah and Kwaku Gyamfi Bediako-Dinkunim return to the NSMQ spotlight as this week’s guests of the #NSMQLiveChat
Between 2000 and 2006, St. Peter’s SHS made five (5) Finals appearances, doing it in three (3) consecutive years from 2004 to 2006 and winning the NSMQ trophy twice in that period. A notable team from that golden generation in PERSCO history is the 2004 team, who narrowly lost the trophy to Achimota School. After almost two decades, the NSMQ stage welcomes Sqn Ldr (Dr.) Kwaku Gyamfi Bediako-Dinkunim, Dr. Ernest Yeboah and Dr. Shelter Bakah as guests on the #NSMQLiveChat, a live conversation with former contestants of the NSMQ every fortnight on Thursdays.
Planted In PERSCO, Blooming in Medicine: A Profile of the St. Peter’s SHS NSMQ 2004 Team
Sqn Ldr (Dr) Kwaku Gyamfi Bediako-Dinkunim
After his secondary education at St Peters’ SHS, Kwaku Gyamfi Bediako-Dinkunim studied Pharmacy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he earned Bachelor’s and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees. He was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces as a Flying Officer in February 2011 and has risen through the ranks to Squadron Leader.
Sqn Ldr Bediako-Dinkunim has professionally discharged his duties in various departments within the Ghana Armed Forces Medical Services across the country and has had five (5) tours of duty with the United Nations as Pharmacist and Medical Logistics Officer of the Ghana Battalions in Lebanon, DR Congo and The Gambia. He is currently the Head of Oncology/Haematology Pharmacy at 37 Military Hospital and owns Dinkunim Pharmacy Ltd, a community Pharmacy business with two branches in the Ga South Municipality. He is a member of the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners, Oncology Pharmacy Association of Ghana and Breast Society of Ghana. His passion is to provide quality pharmaceutical care to patients, especially those battling cancer, and aims to dedicate the rest of his professional life to cancer research in the Ghanaian and African demographics. This passion is driven by the limited availability of reliable data on cancers in Ghana and Africa.
As a way of giving back to his alma mater, he initiated a formal structure and a committee to act directly between PERSCOBA Global and the St. Peters NSMQ team in 2018 and has been supporting the team since then.
Sqn Ldr Kwaku Gyamfi Bediako-Dinkunim is married with 3 children.
Planted In PERSCO, Blooming in Medicine: A Profile of the St. Peter’s SHS NSMQ 2004 Team
Dr. Shelter Bakah
“Dignitati Hominum – For the Dignity of Mankind”
Driven by the motto of his alma mata, St. Peter’s SHS, Shelter set sail to learn, practice, and contribute to the medicine discipline to enhance the dignity of humanity. After his secondary education, he secured a scholarship from the joint Ghanaian/Russian governments to study medicine at the Russian State Medical University. He won the Best International Student award against the odds during his premedical year. He thereon completed medical school with a much-coveted distinction honour.
On his return to Ghana in 2013, Shelter worked at the 37 Military Hospital for his housemanship. He then proceeded to work at other health facilities in Ghana, including the SSNIT Hospital and Airport Clinic. Shelter’s quest to pursue higher education and acquire more modern best-practice in medical sciences to impact Ghanaian communities led him to pursue practice in the United Kingdom. He initially worked at the acute medical unit of St George’s Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in London, while providing care for many complex patients. Later, he moved to his current role as an internal medicine resident at the Norwich and Norfolk University Hospital. Shelter currently works at the renal department and occasionally teaches at the university attached to the hospital.
Propelled by an innate desire to support science and technology education in Ghana, he has partnered with Africa Schools Online to mentor students in various senior high schools in STEM education in Ghana. In the long-term, Shelter hopes to harness his experience to improve access to renal replacement therapy, including dialysis and renal transplantation in Ghana. He also wishes to improve healthcare through AI. Having a predilection for mathematics, he aspires to harness the power of data science and statistics to drive research to enhance the overall renal healthcare peculiar to Ghanaians.
Shelter speaks five languages: Twi, Ga, Ewe, English, and Russian. He is also an ardent fan of the Liverpool Football Club. Being a passionate lover of nature, Shelter spends considerable time as a landscape photographer.
Planted In PERSCO, Blooming in Medicine: A Profile of the St. Peter’s SHS NSMQ 2004 Team
Dr. Ernest Yeboah
“Never forget your roots and your limits, In all that you do, Strive for the best and be passionate”.
These are a few of many quotes that motivate Dr. Ernest Yeboah, a Medical Doctor, Disc Jockey (DJ) and Tech Geek. After secondary school, Ernest completed 6 years of medical education at KNUST-SMS and has worked at several hospitals during his career including Tema General Hospital, Nyaho Medical Centre, Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where he specialized in Emergency Medicine. He is currently sub-specializing in Critical Care Medicine at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and is adept at taking care of acutely ill patients that require expert care.
As an ardent lover of music, Dr. Yeboah, alternatively known as DJ ZIGLA, started mixing songs at friends’ parties during his medical school years and decided to eventually make his hobby a mainstay after being offered a professional opportunity. Ernest considers DJing as a “release”, which gives him the perfect balance needed to keep progressing in his career. Some of the popular places he has honed his skills include; Oasis Beach Resort, Alliance Francaise d’Accra and the Asa Baako Festival. As an extra, he is using his platform as a DJ to raise funds for kids whose parents cannot afford basic emergency medical care. On social media you can be a part of this amazing journey via Instagram (@djzigla) and Facebook (@djziglagh).
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In the near future, his main goals include improving emergency and critical care services in the health sector through the use of technology.
The #NSMQLiveChat is a LIVE virtual conversation featuring some of the most notable names on the NSMQ Stage since its inception. Every fortnight on Thursdays, we spotlight and interact with the myriad of brilliant minds who have made the NSMQ the programme we all love and enjoy.