Health training institutions cry over budgetary constraints
The Conference of Heads of Health Training Institutions (COHHETI) has appealed to the Government to relieve health training institutions (HTIs) of what it describes as “enormous budgetary constraints”.
According to the conference, their institutions, for some time now, have not been allocated any “immediate needs” budget, and is putting a strain on their meagre resources.
Mrs Sophia Agyei- Aye, President of COHHETI made the appeal when she addressed the official opening of the 10th Annual General Meeting of the conference on the theme: “Sanitation for all: the role of Health Training Institutions”, in Cape Coast.
The five- day conference, would among others, create the platform for general discussions on matters affecting the administration and organisation of HTIs, update members on new policies and information as well as bargain for appropriate conditions of service for members.
Mrs Agyei-Aye also the Principal of the Pantang Nursing and Midwifery Training School expressed worry over congestion at health facilities for clinical studies due to the influx of HTIs especially nursing and midwifery schools.
She said the congestion is overstretching the health facilities.
To solve this, she appealed to the Ministry of Health to sync the opening of new nursing and midwifery schools with the establishment of new clinics to promote effective teaching and learning since nursing and midwifery were hands- on professions.
Mrs. Agyei-Aye commended government for its commitment towards the provision of needed resources and support for the training of quality health profession but urged it to do more
The Central Regional Minister Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah spoke against the bad attitude of citizens towards waste disposal including open defecation into gutters and sea shores.
He said it is a major contributing factor to the country’s failure in achieving the Millennium Development Goals target on sanitation.
He said government could not continue to spend whooping sums on poor sanitation and its related diseases such as malaria and cholera at the expense of other pressing developmental issues and called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to rid the country of filth.
Mr Quansah urged the Heads of Health Institutions to collaborate with the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies and come out with strategies to deal with peculiar sanitation challenges in their areas.
Source: GNA