Nurse trainees of the Bawku Presbyterian Nursing Training College (PNTC) have been advised not to place the desire for money above their profession but see it as a call to duty in saving humanity.

At their matriculation ceremony, the 101 trainees were advised to use their talents to care for the sick, wounded and the needy with compassion as Florence Nightingale did which earned her the name “the lady with the lamb”.

This is because she cared for the wounded soldiers during the Crimean war with care and compassion.

The students, made up of 45 female and 56 males are pursuing a diploma course in general nursing for three years after which they would be well prepared to compliment the deficit of the human resources in the health sector.

Mr Frank Fusieni Adongo, the Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, made the call at the 20th matriculation ceremony of the college at Bawku in the Upper East Region.

He said nursing had grown to become one of the noble, admirable and rewarding professions in the country as nurses constituted the first point of contact in the health facility and patients’ companion even beyond the walls of the hospital.

He explained that the initial encounter of the patient with the nurse could either improve or worsen the condition even before seeing the Doctor and urged the trainees to carry out their work with compassion.

Mr Adongo charged the students to be focused on their studies because they had chosen the right path and were on track to greatness and nobility, adding that all that they needed was to constantly keep in mind the objectives of the course they were pursuing.

The Minister disclosed that government was putting in stringent measures to recruit about 15,667 health staff comprising 11,573 nurses, 247 doctors and 938 allied health staff among others.

Mrs Rhoda Damata Bukari, the Acting principal of the College, urged the students to be disciplined, responsible, respectful, polite, humble, God fearing, punctual and committed to duty as those were the values that would keep them focused and maintain the good name of the college.

These values would help you become very good nurses whose work would impact positively on the people, she told the students.

She said the College recorded 61.9 per cent success in the August 2017 licensing examination, which was not good enough and so the academic board was putting in measures to improve on future performances.

She called on the government to expedite action on the introduction of a Midwifery programme in the school since the area was in need of midwives.