Government increases health training schools in UWR

Government has increased the number of health training schools in the Upper West Region to help address the healthcare needs of the people adequately, Mr. Caesar Kale, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister has said.

He said Government has for the past three years provided the region with five polyclinics at strategic communities, two midwifery training schools at Nandom and Tumu, two health assistant training schools in Wa and Lawra and constructional works on the Wa Regional Hospital was also progressing .

Mr. Kale made these known at the matriculation ceremony of the sixth batch of the Wa Health Assistant Training School in Wa on Saturday.

He said efforts were being made to address challenges of inadequate health personnel

Mr Kale tasked tutors of health training institutions to ensure the proper training of their students, to enable them to acquire the right aptitude and mental framework for their profession.

“There will be no excuse if teaching and learning environment continues to improve as a result of the massive investment made by the Government without a corresponding reflection in the academic performance of students and the provision of quality healthcare services”, he said.

Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, in speech read on his behalf, announced that \Government was in the process of acquiring a 63.1-acre land for the construction of permanent structures for the establishment of Health Training College in Wa to run a Diploma Registered General Nursing programme.

He appealed to Government to include the health training institutions in the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) beneficiary package.

He challenged the health training institutions in the region to make student discipline the hallmark of their training.

Mr. George Y. Segnitome, Principal of the Wa Health Assistant Training School, said the contribution of the school towards health manpower needs had been tremendous.

He said in the past five years, the school had produced 385 students, out of which 380 of them had obtained their licenses and were in active practice.

The Principal said due to inadequate infrastructure challenges, the school admitted only 70 students out of the 394 qualified applicants.

Mr. Segnitome said the school scored 100 per cent in the November 2011 Licensing Examination, recording 17 credits and one distinction.**