The Ministry of Health is putting in place measures that would compel students in health training institutions to sign bonds to serve for a period of time before they could be on their own.
In breach of this contract, there will be penalty that would be subject to review, Mrs. Gladys Fabyan, Deputy Director of Human Resource for Health Development disclosed on Friday.
Mrs. Fabyan was speaking at the matriculation ceremony for 157 students
of the Community Health Nursing Training School at Tanoso in Tano North district of Brong-Ahafo.
She noted with regret that most students sought admission to health training institutions "just to find themselves somewhere" only to leave
suddenly to the universities and other tertiary institutions later.
"These practices do not only obstruct the activities of such institutions but also deny admission to students ready to be community health nurses, since the various community health training institutions do not have the capacity to admit all the students seeking admission", she stressed.
Mrs. Fabyan explained that the Ministry of Health had adopted Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) as the strategy for improving access and equity in the provision of quality basic health services to all residents in the country.
She said the Ministry was also making efforts to increase the number of community health nurses and to ensure their retention in the CHPS zones to enable residents to have access to quality health care delivery.
Mrs. Josephine Koranteng Asare, Principal, explained that since the inception of the school in 2003 five batches of students had been enrolled but many teething problems had not made it possible to hold matriculation for the previous four batches.
She mentioned lack of a school bus, inadequate accommodation and classrooms for the students and inadequate number of computers as some of the problems.
Mrs. Asare expressed worry that the current capacity classroom accommodation was 140 students and the number of students was 305.
She underscored the need for the creation of an enabling environment for effective teaching and learning to ensure the turning out of a highly motivated group of community health nurses.
Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Regional Minister, urged the students to pass through the appropriate and established procedures for the resolution of their grievances.
He expressed concern about students who were sponsored by municipal and district assemblies but on completion, refused to accept postings to serve under the assemblies.
Mr. Baffour-Awuah gave the assurance that the Regional Coordinating Council would continue to support and encourage the growth and development of the school and called for an effective linkage between the school and the Tanoso community.