Stephen Yakubu, Upper East Regional Minister
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Yakubu, has given the assurance that all the eight districts in the region will benefit from the Agenda 111 which was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday.
The eight districts include Garu, Tempane, Pusiga, Binduri, Kassena-Nankana West, Nabdam, Bolgatanga East and Builsa South.
The Regional Minister made this disclosure at Zuarungu Nursing and Midwifery Training College at Bolgatanga East District yesterday, during a working visit to some health training institutions and health facilities in the region.
He noted that all districts in the region without district hospitals would benefit from the initiative to improve health care delivery to the people.
Mr Yakubu said the Agenda 111 would create job opportunities in the health sector and therefore, charged the training institutions to train quality professionals to take advantage of the initiative to be gainfully employed.
The Acting Vice-Principal of the Zuarungu Nursing and Midwifery College, Mr Nerius Alika, said his outfit was committed to training very skilled professional nurses and midwives to contribute to strengthening the health system of the region and the country as a whole, but they were faced with numerous infrastructural challenges.
He mentioned the lack of adequate staff and student accommodation, lecture halls, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory, a demonstration room and library complex, as some of the major challenges confronting the college.
The Acting Vice Principal explained that the college was currently benefiting from the construction of three projects including a dining hall, girls’ dormitory and a classroom block.
He said apart from the 200-capacity girls’ dormitory which had been completed and the first-year students were occupying, the two other projects had stalled and abandoned by the contractors.
Mr. Alika appealed to the government to, as matter of urgency, have the contractor return to complete the projects for them.
The Acting Vice-Principal noted that the school was currently affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Cape Coast for the award of Diplomas in Registered General Nursing and Midwifery respectively.
“Currently, the midwifery programme that we are offering is for those who are already on the field, our products and community health nurses, but we are planning to start midwifery for those who have completed senior high school,” he said.