Regional News of Thursday, 8 July 2004

Source: GNA

Worawora Nursing School to be reactivated

Accra, July 8, GNA- Mr. Moses Dani Baah, Deputy Minister of Health, Thursday announced that steps were underway to reactivate the Community Health Nurses' Training School at Worawora in the Volta region to train more nurses to address the problem of shortage of health personnel in the country.

He said the Worawora Hospital would partly be used as a resource centre for training of students in the health professions.

Mr. Dani Baah was speaking in Parliament in answer to a question by Mr. Francis Agbotse NDC-Ho West on when the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, (EP) Hospitals in Worawora and Adidome, in the Volta Region would be returned to the administration and management of the church.

Mr. Dani Baah said records available to the ministry indicated that the Adidome and Worawora hospitals, were built by the government during the First Republic and was later handed over to the EP Church to manage as agency hospitals.

He explained that due to the church's failure to resolve persistent managerial problems, which adversely affected the smooth running of the two hospitals, the Ministry was compelled to take over.

Mr. Dani Baah said, "the Ghana Health Service (GHS) investigated the matter and the reaction of the staff of the two hospitals and the community at large revealed that they preferred that the facilities be managed by the GHS."

He said the GHS had since it took over, taken steps to upgrade facilities at the two hospitals, adding that the EP Church would not be prevented from assisting in any way possible in its quest to effectively manage the two hospitals with the view to improving health service delivery.

The Deputy Minister also answered a question in the name of Samuel Adu-Yeboah, NDC- Agona East as to when work on the female ward of the Agona Swedru Hospital would be completed and commissioned. He said steps were underway to provide the new ward with a full complement of equipment to make it operational.