Kwaku Agyeman-Manu addressing journalists as other regional staff look on
Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has dismissed claims by some opposition party members that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government introduced the quota system for the nursing training institution to help them restore the allowances to trainee nurses in the country.
According to him, the ministry, in consultation with stakeholders, arrived at the quota for the 2017 admission, adding that some indications such as equity, quality and capacity were considered.
Speaking at a press briefing at Cape Coast in the Central Region yesterday, Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that the move is rather aimed at resolving the equity imbalance with the system.
He mentioned that the quota for this year has been on planned human resource policy and, would therefore, not affect availability of nurses in the health facilities.
Mr Agyeman-Manu added that the intake of midwifery category has been increased from 3,810 in 2016 to 4,178 in 2017, whilst Post-NAC and Post-NAP Midwifery have also been increased from 631 in 2016 to 1,659 in 2107.
“We need to have more nurses who would concentrate on preventive aspect of health this year, the ministry and it collaborators had to increase the intake of registered community nurses from 817 in 216 to 2,346,” he said
The minister also disclosed that the Ministry of Health (MoH) would not entertain the situation where qualified students would not get admission based on payment of bribes.
“The ministry is going to set up investigative machinery to bring up any uncover incidents regarding collecting of bribes during the admission period,” he added
The minister hinted that plans were under by the government to ensure that some funds would be available for the provision of clinical materials, construction of classrooms and other resources needed for effective teaching and learning so that health training institutions would not depend solely on the revenue from the school fees.
The NPP government in its 2016 campaign message promised to restore the nursing and teacher training allowances in the country, a situation which has compelled the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to lambast them.
From Joseph Annan, Cape Coast