By Samuel Akumatey
Ho, Oct. 26, GNA-The Conference of Heads of Health Training Institutions (COHHETI), has called for health professionalism to be reserved for people with wholesome commitment, to enable dedicated service within the sector.
Madam Margaret Alacoque, President of the Conference said the profession required a spirited commitment to caring for humanity, and therefore parents should not coerce their wards into choosing the profession against their will.
The President was addressing the opening of the 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Conference in Ho, which was on the theme: “Changing Trends in Health Care Delivery: A Call to Duty for Health Training Institutions”.
She said the present negative outlook of the nursing profession in the country could be blamed on the mindset informing the choice as a career and must be corrected.
“Nursing and midwifery and allied health professionals are a calling; therefore, parents and guardians should not push their wards into such programmes when they do not have the desire. We are already suffering the effects of such health staff,” Ms Alacoque said.
She said the nation’s 89 public health training institutions churned out some 20,000 health professionals annually, and that entry-level requirements and an upgrade to degree awarding institutions should be reconsidered to enable them to produce more nurses relevant to the times.
“Health training institutions are far ahead of Colleges of Education, however, within a twinkle of an eye, they have all migrated to tertiary status while health training institutions lag.
Among the core, clinical health teams in Ghana, nursing and midwifery have the lowest entry level.
It is high time health training institutions are upgraded to degree awarding institutions to train specialist nurses to meet the changing trends in healthcare delivery,” Ms Alacoque stated.
She said the institutions were adjusting to training specialist nurses in areas including geriatrics, ophthalmic, trauma, and emergency nursing to help close human resource gaps identified by the Ministry of Health.
The President of the Conference said resources to pursue mandate and stay within changing global trends in practice continued to be a challenge for the training institutions, and that the Conference was proposing the establishment of a fund along the lines of the GETFund to support the development of the institutions.
She said the management of the sale of admission forms should be handed over to the schools, to enable them to populate the proposed fund and improve the internally generated fund base.
Ms Alacoque appealed to the Government to rebuff the logistical base of the management of the various institutions, saying vehicles and other administrative tools were growing obsolete.
Prof. Lidya Aziato, Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), in a keynote address, said the changing trend in global culture and systems called for health professionals to “revise their notes.”
She noted how the recent coronavirus outbreak had affected the outlook of the academic curriculum and said longevity associated with an advancing world called to consider competence in home-based care and management of the elderly.
Prof. Aziato said health training institutions played centre in a complex healthcare industry, and that students should be prepared to meet the needs of groups and individuals in the community.
Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, said the “great” progress within the health sector appreciated the contributions of training institutions, which were important in the supply chain of health delivery.
He asked the heads to consider environmental cleanliness and sanitation in the mix of training activities, as an important part of health delivery.
GNA