HEALTH TRAINING INSTITUTIONS ASK FOR MORE RESOURCES (PAGE 51, OCT 13, 2010)

THE Conference of Heads of Training Institutions (COHHETI) has urged the Ministry of Health (MoH) to adequately resource and support health training institutions.
This is to enable them to meet accreditation requirements and consolidate their tertiary status.
It said the provision of well-equipped and stocked libraries, computers, textbooks and health-related journals, current editions of teaching and learning materials, buses for educational tours and vehicles for administrative duties and supervision of students in the clinical areas would enable them ensure quality training of health professionals.
Speaking at the opening of the 2010 annual general meeting and scientific session of the association in Koforidua, the Chairman of COHHETI, Mr James Yambor, said the lack of financial support and other logistics “is adversely affecting the tertiary status of health training institutions”.
The meeting, on the theme: “Consolidating the tertiary status of health training institutions: Challenges and prospects”, brought together heads and acting heads of the various health training institutions in the country.
Making reference to the government’s White Paper on reforms in the tertiary educational system in the country, Mr Yambor said teacher training colleges, agricultural training colleges, nursing and midwifery training colleges were all classified as tertiary institutions and placed under the Regional Colleges of Applied Arts, Science and Technology (RECAAST) to ensure cost-effectiveness by sharing teaching facilities, infrastructure and equipment.
However, he said, resource constraints facing the Ministry of Education (MoE) did not allow for the full implementation of the RECAAST system, in spite of the fact that the MoE had recommended that all RECAAST institutions be affiliated to the universities and steps be taken to upgrade the resources of the potential institutions to those of diploma-awarding institutions.
He, therefore, called on the MoH to help address those challenges to enable health training institutions to measure up to their tertiary status and deliver quality training to students.
For his part, Mr Richard K. Adjei of the NAB advised lecturers in the health training institutions to engage in research activities in relevant areas to enable them to acquire more knowledge and build their professional capability.