Nursing training: Government’s 30% MOH quota meant for party apparatchiks – Minority Caucus

The Minority caucus on the Health Committee of Ghana’s Parliament has kicked against the government’s directive to various nursing training colleges across the country to reserve 30% of their admission quota for the Ministry of Health.

The ministry, in a letter dated August 2, 2022, and signed by its Chief Director, Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, directed nursing training colleges across the country to reserve 30 percent of their approved admission quotas for the 2022/2023 academic year for the ministry.

It also directed the institutions to charge GHc150 per prospective student scheduled for an interview; issue a general counterfoil receipt to the interviewees and deposit 34 percent of the proceeds from the interview into the health training institution’s account at the Bank of Ghana.

This directive comes on the back of a reduction in the admission quotas to the institutions following the reinstatement of the nurse training allowance.

But at a press conference today, Monday, 15 August 2022, the Minority Caucus described the situation as a “recipe for unbridled corruption.”

Addressing the media, the Ranking Member of the committee, Mr. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said: “We see these new directives as an attempt by the government to clear a path that makes room for protocol admissions of party apparatchiks, candidates with deep pockets and those who, under normal circumstances, would not gain admissions.”

He also supported calls for a review of the nurse trainee allowance policy to allow for a hybrid system.

“Information available to us is that the Principals of nursing training colleges have suggested that the government should, in the interim, consider a hybrid system that admits both allowance-receiving and non-allowance-receiving students, if payment of allowances is becoming a challenge for the government,” Mr. Akandoh said.