Saltpond (C/R), Feb 1, GNA - The National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) has been asked to rescind its decision to lay off interns who have been trained at medical facilities, under the Health Extension Module of the Programme.

Dr Derrick Akyeampong Bonsu, Medical Superintendent of the Saltpond Government Hospital, who made the appeal, said the withdrawal of the personnel would affect health delivery at hospitals which were already grappling with shortage of staff. He made the appeal at the annual performance review meeting of the Hospital at Saltpond.

Dr Bonsu claimed that letters from the NYEP had been sent to health facilities to withdraw the services of the health extension workers, who had two years training in basic health delivery. He said that "If the interns who were filling in gaps are sent away, some departments at the facilities would be closed down due to shortage of staff".

Dr Bonsu said that a lot of efforts and resources went into the training of the interns and suggested that they should be retained. 1 Feb 10