Dr. Victor Asare Bampoe, Deputy Minister of Health, has urged nurses to be more committed to fighting rising complex health conditions of the country.
He said with an increasing ageing population and rising incidents of chronic and more complex health conditions, Nurses must be prepared to take on greater roles and responsibilities.
Dr. Bampoe made the observation in a speech read for him at a grand durbar to climax the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Sunyani Nursing Training College (NTC)/ Health Assistants Training School (HATS) in Sunyani, over the weekend.
It was on the theme: ?Excellence in Nursing Education ? The Role of Stakeholders?.
Dr. Bampoe said the scope and practice of nursing had expanded over the years in response to the nation?s evolving healthcare needs.
?Our close-to-client policy, which is expressed through the Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) Compound programme is crafted around the nursing profession?, he said.
?Indeed, healthcare in the 21st century requires less investment in sophisticated hospitals and clinics. It is more about deployment in communities and helping individuals and families to take charge of their own health. It is about providing leadership in health and mobilizing available resources at the community level to change behaviour for improved health outcomes?, Dr. Bampoe stressed.
He, however, said to be able to achieve these, the authorities had to be mindful of challenges, including instituting first responder interventions, active patient and care-giver education, specialized nursing treatment and management of chronic diseases.
Dr. Bampoe said government had placed premium on health training institutions in the country and called on Management of nursing training institutions to play their parts well to define the direction that would allow the Ministry of Health (MOH), not only to train, but to retain the nation?s health workers at the levels where they were needed most.
Mr David Amaliba, Principal of the College, said the institution was ranked among the best in the country, based on the performance in the Licentiate examination conducted by the Nurses and Midwifery Council NMC) of Ghana in the last two years.
He credited such enviable academic performance to the commitment and dedication of the College?s staff, irrespective of their challenging conditions.
Mr. Amaliba said the MoH had given approval for the College to start a Midwifery Programme in 2015/2016 Academic year, explaining that the School?s qualification to run the programme resulted from the inspectional assessment carried out in 2010 by the Institutional Programme Accreditation Board.
He said discussions were far advanced to introduce Psychiatric Nursing Programme by 2016, to cater for the Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.
Mr. Amaliba said the school was established in 2004 with 40 students to pursue Registered General Nursing (RGN) Programme.
He said in 2007, the MoH, satisfied with the seriousness of the College?s Management, introduced the Health Assistants? Programme.
He said the College had over the past years trained about 1,500 nurses and currently has a population of 850 students.
GNA
