MOH to investigate maltreatment of students

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has vowed to investigate the alleged maltreatment of student nurses by some heads of health training institutions.

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Tia Sugri, said his office continues to be inundated with complaints about the bad behaviour and that a committee would be established to investigate them.

He announced this at the opening ceremony of a five-day performance review and selection meeting of the heads of the training institutions in Kumasi on Monday.

The review provided the platform to discuss ways of improving the performance of the staff and how to increase the human resource capacity in areas relevant to health care delivery.

Dr Sugri saluted the private sector for assisting in the training of more qualified health personnel to complement the effort of government.

He said to help tackle the shortage of health workers, the ministry’s policy has been to increase admissions to the training institutions.

This, he said, explains why intake figures had gone up from between 650 and 750 in the 1990’s to 7,000 since 2008.

He expressed satisfaction with the effective and vibrant training schemes put in place by the institutions backed by practical attachments tailored for peculiar health needs to ensure that skills are available to the rural areas.

Dr Aaron Offei, Ashanti Regional Director of Health, identified funding and inadequate infrastructure as major constraints confronting the institutions but said these notwithstanding they are performing well.

Dr Kwesi Asabir, Acting Director of Human Resource Development, gave the assurance that the institutions would be expanded to provide quality training.

Mr Samuel Yaw Adusei, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, said the government would do everything to address challenges facing the health sector.