He noted that there was an over concentration of health workers, especially nurses in the regional capitals and it was high time the MOH came up with mechanisms to ensure that more qualified nurses were posted to the rural areas to serve the people who need their services most. Mr Opoku made the appeal at the 12th matriculation of the Berekum Nurses and Midwifery Training College at Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region at the weekend. In all, 147 students out of 882 applicants were admitted. Ninety-seven of the admitted students will pursue a three-year diploma programme in nursing with the remaining 50 pursuing three-year diploma in midwifery course. The college's cadet corps was inaugurated at the economy. Mr Opoku further appealed to students of the various public health training institutions in the country not to refuse postings to the rural communities when they graduated from the colleges. He stated that it was embarrassing to see foreign health volunteers working in deprived communities while "our own people, for various reasons, refuse postings to these areas." "Let us be guided by the fact that we have been trained to provide services to humanity and no matter where we are assigned, we are obliged to serve," he stressed. The deputy regional minister gave the assurance that the government was evolving strategies to SLtm10unt the numerous challenges confronting health care delivery in the country. He mentioned some of them as the provision of more infrastructures for training in health care delivery across the country, motivation of teachers and the entire staff of the various health training institutions to produce the kind of nurses and midwives the nation could be proud of. The Director of Human Resources at the MOR, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira who deputized for the Sector Minister, Mr Benjainin Kumbour said on behalf of all its agencies, the ministry would recruit 9,000 health workers this year. He stated that the MOH was just waiting for approval from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to go ahead with the recruitment. Dr Appiah-Denkyira added that the employment of health workers and for that matter nurses, were no longer automatic after their training as it was in the past. That, he explained, was to enable the MOR to employ private sector products alongside those from the public schools through advertisements and recruit by service agencies. The Catholic Bishop of Sunyani, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, in his keynote address, likened the nursing profession to Jesus Christ’s ministry to the sick and the suffering, saying He (Jesus Christ) had time and patience in dealing with the sick. He, therefore, urged the students to be guided by the philosophy and the attitude of Jesus Christ towards patients to help change the face of the nursing profession in the country: The Principal of the Berekum NMTC, Ms Monica Nkrumah, had earlier in her welcoming address, entreated the students to focus on their studies and work hard to complete their academic progran1ffie and graduate with good diploma to uphold the high academic standard set by the college. She also urged the students to study and abide by the college's rules and regulations.
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