Sunyani NMTC admits 403 students
The Sunyani Nursing and Midwifery Training College (SNMTC) has admitted 403 students comprising 329 females and 74 males for the 2017/2018 academic year.
The number has increased the total student population to 1,280 with teaching staff strength of 38, Mr. David A. Amalba, the Principal, announced at a matriculation ceremony of the College on Thursday in Sunyani.
He said the College was running three programmes – Registered General Nursing (RGN), Registered Midwifery and Registered Nurse Assistant (RNA) – Clinical.
A total 2,646 candidates applied for admission in the 2017/2018 academic year, out of which 2,027, signifying 76.61 per cent candidates qualified and were invited for interview, Mr. Amalba indicated and added that the 403 students, representing 19.88 per cent were finally admitted.
He said academically the College in 2017 obtained 80.9 per cent in the RNA-Clinical licensing examinations but performed averagely in same examination for the RGN.
Mr. Amalba said the causes of the unimpressive performance of the RGN had been identified and Management was working hard to improve on that in the 2018 licentiate examination.
The first batch of the Registered Midwives, he added, would be writing their licensing examination in August 2018 and expressed the hope that those students would remain focus to study harder to give the institution “a good percentage pass”.
On the challenges of the College, the Principal bemoaned the male students resided outside the campus, saying the situation “is a source of worry for Management for their security and welfare” and expressed the hope that “a solution would soon be found”.
Mr. Amalba expressed worry that the untarred road network of the College had given cause to erosion and therefore destroying the landscape of the School during the rainy season.
He lamented that consequently some areas of the College were rendered inaccessible and appealed to the Department of Urban Roads and the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to collaborate to assist the College in that regard as matter of urgency.
Mr. Amalba added that with the increase in population of the students, the School was challenged with relatively small dining hall space and a conference hall for various functions and expressed optimism that since “no problem is insurmountable”, the College would overcome that and other challenges one after another.
He advised the fresh students to be disciplined, both in the College and the clinical areas and added that they must study seriously to achieve their main objective of acquiring knowledge and skills in nursing, pass their examinations and go out to render quality health services to communities in Ghana and beyond.
Mr. Evans Opoku Bobie, the Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo North, reiterated the need for the entire students of the College to be principled and allow for discipline to permeate all aspects of their lives in the School.
He explained “discipline is one of the prerequisites for career accomplishment and academic success”, saying indispensably that would nature their characters as professionals.
Mr. Bobie therefore stressed that they must regard that as an important tool in their journeys to becoming more academically and professionally accomplished in the health profession.
Source: GNA