"Big men" interfering in the postings of Nurses

Bolgatanga Nov 2, GNA The Upper East Regional Health Directorate has complained of frequent interference of politicians, influential public officials and spouses in the postings of newly trained nurses in the Region. It urged all those who would like to use their influence to send the nurses out of the Region to desist from it as the area needed the nurses much more than most parts of the country.

Mr. Lucio Dery, Acting Regional Director of Health Services, was speaking at the inauguration of Boards of Governors of Health Institutions in the Region.

He noted presence of few Health Personnel in the Region and appealed to the Ministry of Health (MOH) to grant the Region admission quotas for the three Medical Schools and the Kintampo Rural Health Training School and the School of Allied Health Sciences to help address the personnel crises. He explained that if that were done, the Region would then select, sponsor and bond such candidates to return and serve for at least two years. Mr. Dery said even though the region had five Health Institutions, they were all operating at 17 per cent capacity due to poor infrastructure and appealed to the Municipal, District Assemblies and Members of Parliament to help the Directorate.

Dr. Benjamin Kumbour, Deputy Minister of Health, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr. R.A. Danquah-Boateng, Senior Architect, said the MOH had 56 Training Institutions and over 18,000 students in the Country. "Each Region has a Nurse and a Midwifery training School, Community Health Nurse Training schools, Health Assistants Clinical School and post basic schools running specialized courses for nurses". He noted that many countries in the sub-region had applied to have their citizens trained and acquire certificates in Ghana but that was cautiously being looked at as it could not be done at the expense of Ghanaian students.

"In a quest for the MOH to make Ghana a hub for training of health professionals in the sub-region, no stone will be left unturned hence the need to draw on the expertise of very experienced people to form the Advisory Boards to chart the way forward for quality education in the health sector", he said.

Mr. Mark Woyongo, Regional Minister, inaugurated the five Advisory Boards and charged them to take their responsibility seriously so as to make a good impact on the institutions. 02 Nov.09