Quota system will worsen nurse-patient ratio

The quota placed on nursing training institutions by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) will create more problems in the health sector, Apostle Daniel Walker, Rector at the Pentecost University, has said.

Per the new directive issued by the NMC, prospective applicants to the 75 accredited Nursing Training institutions in the country would have to battle it out for the limited spaces available, as intake for this year has been drastically reduced.

Last year, a total of 7,335 students were admitted but per the new directive, only 5,737 would gain admission.

Critics have called this an act of bad faith on the part of government, in order to avoid paying the restored allowances to nurses.

One of the affected institutions is the Pentecost University, whose intake has been slashed to 35 from the previous 96 last year.

The University is, however, bemoaning this move as it says it will cripple the training of nurses in the country.

Apostle Walker told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on the 505 news programme on Class91.3FM on Wednesday August 9 that: “As you are aware, the health care delivery system in this country is still developing and we need more health professionals – doctors, nurses, midwives and lab technologists to help with healthcare delivery in the nation. So now that it is going to be reduced, definitely the nurse-patient ratio will continue to fall and there is going to be a shortfall and that is going to create problems for us.”