The Jirapa Nurses' and the Midwifery Training Colleges have few tutors and adequate infrastructure resulting in student congestion and exerting academic pressure on the few tutors manning the twin institutions.
The two colleges with a total student population of 321, comprising 251 students for the Registered General Nurse programme and 70 students for the Registered Midwifery course, have to do with only nine tutors while six students share a room instead of four.
Mr. Walter D. Mwinbo, Principal of the Registered General Nurses College, made these known at the matriculation of the twin health institutions in Jirapa on Saturday.
He said the colleges also had inadequate classrooms and residential accommodation for tutors, compelling the authorities to rent two hostels off campus for students, a situation he said has exposed the students to all manner of inconvenience.
He said 70 computers for the two facilities were lying idle as they were no computer laboratories to house them for the use the students while its standby generator had broken down a long time now.
The colleges lacked means of transport to send their students round to performance academic activities outside the campuses and called on the government to consider giving them buses to facilitate their movement.
All these notwithstanding, Mr. Mwinbo mentioned protocol interference in the admission of students to the colleges as a major challenge facing the authorities.
He said this had led to indiscipline among some students as well as contributing to the poor academic performance of the colleges and called for the abolition of such preferential treatment to the privileged few.
Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, promised the twin colleges with tutors, saying the Ministry of Health has provided study leave to some of its staff to further their education and come back to teach in the institutions.
He reminded students and staff of health training institutions to play their roles properly to turn out qualified personnel to help provide quality healthcare services to the people.
Dr. Nang-Beifubah said indiscipline, truancy and poor attitude to work were not needed in the nursing profession and urged tutors to remould their students at the college level to suit the ethics of the profession.
He warned that his administration would not tolerate indiscipline among students and advised the authorities of health institutions to ensure that only disciplined students were admitted and kept in their facilities so that they would come out and render quality services to the people.
Mr. Bernard Puozuing, Jirapa District Chief Executive, called on health personnel to redouble their efforts to enable the government to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for the country.
He announced that the Jirapa District Assembly has acquired 40 hectares of land to relocate one of the two colleges there to help reduce congestion and enhance quality academic performance.