Tamale, June 16, GNA - Dr Kofi Issah, Savelugu/Nanton District Director of Health Service has called for the introduction of cultural beliefs into the curriculum of nursing training institutions. He said this would let the trainee nurses to understand and appreciate the cultural beliefs of people in the rural communities to be able to treat them fairly and also communicate with them in a more polite and courteous manner.

Dr Issah was speaking at the launch of a weeklong celebration of activities of the Ghana Nurse and Midwife Trainees' Association (GNMTA) in Tamale on Friday.

The celebration is on the theme: "The role of the student nurse in meeting the health needs of women and children".

Dr Issah said some nurses did not understand the social and economic circumstances of the rural people and therefore tended to address them in degrading and disrespectful language.

The District Director of Health urged the trainee nurses to be smart, confident and quick in decision making since they would be attending to patients most of whom would be illiterates. He said: "Schooling in a nursing training institution is not just passing examinations but becoming a leader".

Dr Issah told the trainee nurses to cultivate the habit of implementing what they had learnt in school and advised them against taking shortcuts in the treatment of their patients. Mr Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, who launched the celebration, said a lot was expected of the nurse with the aging of the population, the increasing demand for quality health service and the gradual transition to the mutual health insurance scheme. He said it was imperative for nurses to access quality training to prepare them for the challenges ahead.

"As student nurses your role is to go beyond the hospital to include the communities and in doing so, you should disseminate relevant health information to the people," he said.

On the strike action by health workers, the Deputy Regional Minister said the government acknowledged their efforts and appealed to them to return to work since the government had already given the assurance to meet their demands.

Mr Ketekewu said it was regrettable that health workers had decided to embark on strike and forgetting to abide by their oaths and professional ethics thus endangering the lives of people. "Let the axiom that nursing is a sacrificial job be your guiding principle as you pursue your course and when you qualify as nurses", Mr. Ketekewu told the trainees.

Mr Sayimah Kombian, Principal of the Tamale Nurses' Training College said the school was faced with serious accommodation problem both for lectures and students and appealed to the government to help address it. He also appealed to the district assemblies in the Region to assist in providing water and other infrastructure for the school.