BOLGATANGA NTC PLEADS FOR RESOURCES (PAGE 22)

The Principal of the Bolgatanga Nursing Training College,(BNTC) Mr Moonin Musah, has appealed to the Ministry of Health to adequately resource the college to ensure quality education for accelerated national development.
He noted that facilities at the college, which was currently housed in temporary structures, were woefully inadequate hence the need for the government's urgent intervention.
Mr Musah told the Daily Graphic in Bolgatanga that the college needed to be upgraded in view of the high number of students who sought admission there.
“We have been in temporary structures since 1990 and so people tend to think this is the school but the truth of the matter is that we do not have a school yet,” he said.
According to Mr Musah, the college had been on the drawing board for expansion for a very long time, but it appeared successive governments had ignored the plight of the college and this was having a toll on the effective running of the institution.
He said professional nursing training started in the region in 1954 at the current Midwifery Training School, but had to relocate to its present site in 1990, as a result of increased enrolment, but expressed regret that “since then everybody has forgotten about us”.
He explained that the present site being occupied by the college was originally small laboratory cubicles that were set up by the Ministry of Education for use as Regional College for Arts, Science and Technology but because that project stalled, the government taught it wise to convert into a training institution for professional nurses due to its closeness to the hospital.
“In modifying this place for use, we developed some structural defects and this posses a challenge to us,” he said.
He indicated that four years ago, the college was billed for expansion but that plan did not materialise because the Ministry of Health’s policy was then on preventive health care so funds meant for expansion were channelled to the Community Health Training School.
"Last year, we were assured that we will go on board for expansion, but then again, the policy was directed at maternal and child health care, so the resource was diverted to expanding the Midwifery Training School," the principal said.
He, however, expressed the hope that attention would be focused on the college this time round to ameliorate the challenges it faced.
Pointing to the foundation of what seems to be the permanent structures for the college, Mr Musah said the original plan, which had been on the drawing board since 1974, when executed could provide enough classrooms and other facilities for the training of professional nurses.
Mr Musah said some problems facing the college were lack of classrooms, means of transport for clinical programmes and inadequate security.
"We are deep in a community which endorses pilfering and even when we chase people who are in possession of our items into the community, members of the community are able to hide them,” he said.
He was, however, grateful to the Regional Health Directorate for its support and other kind-spirited individuals who continually put in a voice for the college.
Responding to charges of exorbitant fees, Mr Musah said health training institutions did not fix fees.
He said it was rather the Ministry of Health that determined how much students should pay.
Fees in the college recently shot up from GH¢350 to GH¢850 and this attracted some concerns from parents and students.