By Isaac Kwaku Gyedu
Sefwi Wiawso (WN/R), Aug. 31, GNA – Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister for Health, has embarked on a day’s working visit to the Western North Region to familiarised himself with the operations of the area.
The Minister and his entourage visited the various agencies under the Ministry of Health, which afforded him the opportunity to interact with staff and gather information on the sector in the region for policy direction.
Mr Akandoh who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Sefwi Juaboso said the main purpose of the visit was to dialogue with health professionals, to come up with programmes that would enhance the development of the sector.
The Minister and his entourage also met and interacted with the Sefwi Wiawso Nursing and Midwifery College.
He said the government had managed to pay all the nurses’ allowance without arears and paid the “No Fees Stress” for first year students.
He added that the government had plans to introduce degrees programmes in the nursing training institutions and that a new nursing training institution would be established in the Juaboso district of the Western North Region.
He gave an assurance that the current final year students would write their licensure exams in their own institutions.
Mr Akandoh hinted that 15 nursing training tutors would be sponsored by the government to upgrade themselves to PhD degrees.
He later donated healthcare equipment to the newly established government hospital at Sefwi Asawinso.
Mr Wilbert Petty Brentum, the Western North Regional Minister who welcomed the Health Minister and enumerated some challenges confronting healthcare delivery in the region and called for their urgent redress.
Accompanying the Minister on his visit were the Director General for Ghana Health Services, the Members of Parliament for Sefwi Wiawso and Akontombra, the Regional Health Director, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chiefs of the area, and other health care directors.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo