August 25, 2017
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Daffiama- Bussie-Issa constituency in the Upper West Region, Dr. Sabastian Sandaare has urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to back the words spoken during the electioneering campaign with real actions to give more opportunities to qualified candidates, create jobs for all nurses in the country and enhance healthcare to all citizens.

The MP who is a member of the Health Committee of Parliament said the quota admission policy adopted by government against its campaign promise not to cut nurses trainee intake will deny over 1,600 students entrance to nurse and midwifery training collages for the 2017 academic year alone.

This development he noted will affect Ghana’s quest to close its 38,000 nurses deficit gap in order to meet the World Health Organization’s Standard.

“There are numerous districts including Daffiama-Bussie-Issa, with no single registered nurse to provide services to citizens”.

The MP stated the problem cannot be solved by the approach of reducing intake and urged government to prioritize quality delivery to citizens.

According to him adequate numbers are needed for quality health delivery and hence Ghana should be working towards bridging the gap and not cutting down intake.

“It takes a strong political will to solve the problem and hence the move to reduce intake is only a lack of political will to meet the global standards so far as providing quality health services is concerned” he noted.

Dr. Sandare, a medical doctor and a former District Health Director for Lawra described government’s quota policy as ‘very dangerous to health delivery in the country, it’s “double jeopardy” he said.

By: Christian Kpesese/ghanamps.com