Government to clear backlog of nurses - Aboagye-Gyedu

Mr Kingsley Aboagye-Gyedu, the Deputy Minister-designate of Health, has given the assurance that the ministry intends to clear the backlog of nurses by employing them to improve health delivery in the country.

He said the nation could not afford to leave the nurses and other health professionals trained with the nation’s scarce resources to go to waste, adding; “we must by all means find work for them to do.”

Mr Aboagye-Gyedu gave the assurance when he appeared before the Appointment Committee of Parliament in Accra.

The nominee, who is an Accountant, is among the last batch of four ministers of state and 50 deputy ministers to be vetted by the Appointment Committee.

Mr Aboagye-Gyedu also assured the Appointments Committee of the ministry’s commitment to improve its Human Resource Department to streamline the recruitment of new health workers.

He said nursing students who found themselves in unaccredited institutions and, as a result, could not be accepted would have to be helped by the ministry to improve on their skills to become employable.

Mr Kwaku Agyenim-Boateng, the Deputy Minister-designate of Railway Development, who also appeared before the Appointment Committee, said the focus that the railway sector had received through the creation of the new ministry had brought enough visibility, leadership and attention.

He said the ministry intended to setup a promotion centre to attract the private sector to help develop the railways in the country.

He said the vision of the ministry was also to develop light rail in Accra and Kumasi to help reduce the traffic on the roads.

Mr Agyenim-Boateng said the ministry intended to collaborate with the MMDCEs and traditional authorities to help resolve the issues of encroachment on railway lands.

Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Deputy Minister -designate of Aviation, stated that the vision of the ministry was to make Ghana the aviation hub for the West-African sub-region.

He stressed the need for aggressive marketing of the airports to attract the needed investments and airlines to bring in more passengers to generate revenue.

He called for collaboration between the ministry and the Ghana Airforce to develop the Takoradi Airport into an airport city.