Mrs Tina Gifty Mensah, Deputy Minister of Health has urged Principals of Health Training Institutions to charge only fees that have been approved by the Ghana Registers Nurses and Midwifes Council.
‘Any Principal or Head who charges the students above the approved fees will be dealt with, accordance with the laws of the land,’ she added.
Mrs Mensah said this at a two-day selection meeting of applications into the Public Health Training Institutions for 2018/2019 academic year held at Winneba, to discuss challenges facing the online admission processes and on the quota for admission.
The meeting was on theme ‘Quality training: A Contributor to achieving Sustainable Development Goal’, which was attended by Principals, Registrars, Administrators, officials from the President of the Ghana Resistors Nurses and Midwifery Association, the Head of Health Training Institutions, Effutu Municipal Chief Executive and the Member of Parliament for Effutu.
The participants were schooled on topics, which included success and challenges of the Online Admission processes Quota for Administration, School fees, post-basic programmes, for foreign basic, foreign post-basic, procurement and supply, infrastructural development, financial, public financial management.
The Deputy Minister urged them as a body to put into writing any objections they might have had about the current approved fees and present it to the Council, copied to the Ministry for necessary action.
Mrs. Mensah assured the authorities and managers of the various Institutions of the Ministry’s readiness to provide the right leadership and direction in the training of health care workers in the country.
Neenyi Ghartey VII, Paramount Chief of Effutu who chaired the meeting, stated that it was about time institutions, which train health practitioners especially nurses ensured that they were moulded with ethics of the profession to help them executive their duties accurately.
He noted that nursing was a calling, a profession which required people with empathy and high level altruism, and society wanted to see such change of ethics in professional conduct of the health workers, hence, it should commence from the training institutions.
‘Ghanaians are not happy with what is going in some health facilities, the frustration, enmity and hatred particularly for people who have suffered one fate or the other at the health facilities’.
He stated that drastic measures and strategies should be put in place for the nurse’s especially to work professional in accordance with the code of ethics pertaining to their work and ‘not wait for worse of situations to occur before we heed to call to act’.
Dr. Alexis Beighfuba Central Regional Health Service Director noted that the theme for the meeting was appropriate as it linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said Quality goes along with change of attitude and likewise training does also curb attitude, in respect of that there was need for personal of the various health facilities to strictly change their behaviours towards sick .
He expressed the need for all Principal of Health Training Schools to be given the chance to attend refreshers courses especially on financial management to be fully abreast with the current procedures in financial management.
