General News of Friday, 18 November 2005

Source: GNA

GHS to institute scholarship for children

Wa, Nov. 19, GNA - Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, on Thursday announced that the Service would by next year institute a scholarship scheme for children of distressed and deprived workers of the Service to enable them to be at par with their more privileged colleagues elsewhere.

He said the Service would also go ahead to re-introduce the Enrolled Nursing course despite threats being carried out by the Ghana National Registered Nurses Association.

Professor Akosa announced these during the third annual Senior Managers Conference of the Ghana Health Service at Wa. He said the re-introduction of the Enrolled Nursing option would help improve health delivery, as more nurses would be available to fill the positions of doctors and nurses leaving the country for "greener pastures".

Mr George Hikah Benson, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, appealed to the Ghana Health Service to consider posting clinical specialists to the Region since the area was incapable of hosting student doctors on their housemanship because there were no clinical staff for them to understudy.

He said it was dangerous for a whole region to be operating without key medical staff in the health facilities and appealed to the Service to expedite action on the re-introduction of the Enrolled Nursing system to enable the products to give prompt health services to patients at health centres. Naa Banawnini Sando II, paramount chief of the Kaleo traditional area who chaired the function, appealed to various district assemblies to consider putting up model schools to encourage health workers to accept postings to rural areas. The three-day conference will among other things help the health managers to share experiences and come out with workable strategies that will help improve health delivery.