Koforidua, April 30, GNA - The Director-General of Ghana Health Service (GHS), Prof. Agyemang Badu Akosa has announced that the Service was holding discussions with the National Accreditation Council on the possibility of introducing a two-year course leading to the award of diploma in community health nursing.

He said under the proposal, graduates who excelled at the diploma level would be given the opportunity to do a further one-year course leading to the award of Higher National Diploma (HND). Professor Akosa announced this at the opening of the fourth national delegates' congress of Community health nursing Group at Koforidua on Wednesday.

The theme for the congress was "Controlling TB in Ghana, the role of the Community Health Nurse."

Prof Akosa said he would do all within his authority to raise the image of community health nurses, adding that never again would they be regarded as auxiliary staff of the GHS. He, however, noted that despite the hard work of community nurses, there was still room for improvement and urged them to help build a robust health system that would guarantee a better future for the country.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Francis Osafo-Mensah, said government was working on a better welfare package for nurses who displayed high sense of patriotism.

He said government had started putting up infrastructure that would make people to enjoy working in any part of the country to disabuse the notion that it is a punishment to work in the rural areas.

Dr Osafo-Mensah urged the GHS to collaborate with other stakeholders in their campaign against tuberculosis and to cultivate the right relationship with the district Assemblies, which would be ready to allocate part of their funds to support their activities.

The Eastern Regional Director of Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, urged the nurses to remain focused and get the communities involved in the monitoring and reduction of maternal and infant mortality, as well as deaths from malaria and TB.

She said currently, the Group is focusing on TB and would devote greater part of the congress to its management and relationship with HIV/AIDS.