Apam, (C/R), March 25, GNA- Ms Joyce Ama Aidoo, Gomoa District Chief Executive, has urged Health Extension Workers to laud the government for the employment opportunity created for them to become responsible adults in the society.

She said health extension employment under the National Youth Employment Programme initiated by the government was to support the shortage of nurses at the hospitals.

Ms Aidoo said this when she addressed 60 health extension workers who would be undergoing a six months nursing training course at Apam in the Gomoa District of the Central region. She urged them to be disciplined during and after the course and also take the programme seriously to enable them come out with flying colours.

The DCE reminded them that at the moment, they are not professional nurses or doctors, but they should use the opportunity as a springboard to upgrade themselves in the nursing training colleges if they wish to remain as professionals.

She advised that while under training they should cooperate with their superiors and patients at the wards. She assured them that an amount of 400,000 cedis monthly allowance would be paid as travel and transport allowances to cushion them during the course.

According to the DCE, the Gomoa District last year employed 195 Teaching Assistants under the National Youth Employment Programme and had been posted to fill vacancies in some basic schools in the area. On sanitation, Ms Aidoo said 25 people have been employed with the Zoomlion Company Limited, while 25 more are on the waiting list to be recruited in two months time.

She said a large track of land had been ploughed for agriculture under the youth employment programme for the cultivation of citrus and vegetables during the farming season.