First batch of Ghanaian doctors to begin national service
The first batch of 200 medical doctors are expected to begin their service in March 2011 under the National Service Scheme.
The doctors form part of a total of 50,069 service personnel that will be deployed for the 2010/11 national service year.
The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Mr Vincent Kuagbenu, made this known yesterday when he announced the release of the 2010/11 postings at the Scheme’s farm at Haatso, a suburb of Accra.
He pointed out that the deployment of the service personnel to the various sectors was contingent on the provisions of Section Three of Act 426, which directs the Scheme to deploy personnel to undertake national service duties in the education, health, agriculture, youth programmes and local government sectors.
He said although the service year commenced on October 1, 2010, personnel could begin accessing their postings on October 4, 2010, adding that as a result of the ongoing census, service personnel should report to their various stations on October 15, 2010.
Mr Kuagbenu said 32,375 personnel, representing 66 per cent of the total deployment, would be sent to the education sector to teach in schools. The scheme, he said, had deployed 5,135 personnel, representing 10 per cent of total deployment, to the health sector and that personnel deployed included pharmacists, doctors of optometry, nurses, laboratory and dispensing technicians.
Mr Kuagbenu said the scheme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourist Board, had deployed 200 personnel to work with the district assemblies in identifying and documenting potential tourism sites for development.
In collaboration with the Forestry Commission and the Ministry of Mines and Natural Resources, he said, 400 personnel had been posted to work on forestry projects and that the NSS had also deployed 170 persons with disability to all the regional co-ordinating councils and district assemblies to work as desk officers.
He said through the Youth in Agriculture programme, the scheme acquired five tractors at subsidised prices and cultivated 715 acres of maize at the Ejura Agriculture Project during the 2009/2010 service year, saying that “harvesting of the maize has started and it is expected to yield over 3,000 50-kg bags.
Source: Daily Graphic