The professional nurse called to serve humanity must possess qualities such as love, commitment and dedication, Mr. Felix Nyante, Deputy Registrar of Nurses and Midwifery Council, has said.

He said Florence Nightingale’s model of nursing earned her the name “the lady of the lamp” due to her love, preparedness, devotion, empathy, sympathy, commitment and dedication to attend to the needs of the sick and the injured even at odd night hours when her colleagues were asleep.

The Deputy Registrar said attending to the sick and saving lives took precedence over all other considerations and interests in the nursing profession.

Mr. Nyante made the remarks when he administered a matriculation oath for fresh students of the Seikwa Health Assistants’ Training School (HATS) at Seikwa in the Tain District of Brong-Ahafo Region last Friday. It was on the theme:”Health Assistant - An indispensable Partner for Health Care”.

The School admitted 126 students comprising 89 females and 37 males for the 2012/2013 academic year, bringing the total number of student population currently to 300.

The students study courses such as Anatomy and Physiology, Infection Prevention, Basic Nutrition, Medical Nursing, Surgical Nursing, Basic Pharmacology, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Social Sciences, Health Promotion/Education and First Aid.

Mr Nyante advised the trainee health assistants not to use strikes and boycotts to fight their cause, especially for wage increment after they had passed out.

He also urged them to avoid demonstrations, unrests and other negative tendencies but remained focused and purposeful to successfully complete their courses.

Mr. Nyante said as health assistants they belonged to the category of essential service providers, and noted, that required commitment and dedication to duty by exhibiting love, empathy and sympathy towards patients.

Mr. Samuel Jones Tawiah, Acting District Chief Executive (DCE) for Tain, said government through the District Assembly would continue to do everything possible to provide infrastructural facilities and logistics to make life comfortable for both students and staff.

The DCE announced the completion of a more spacious classroom block with toilet facilities at the cost of GH¢140,000.00 as well as a borehole estimated at GH¢90,000.00 for the provision of potable water for students and staff.

He therefore urged the students to work hard with determination for success in spite of the challenges, saying “You must know that not where you are but what you are and can do determines the level of success achieved".

Mr. Chris Beyere, Head of Pre-Service Training Institutions of the Ministry of Health (MoH), who represented the sector Minister, Mrs Sherry Aryeetey, said it had been observed that health students while on clinical preferred to rather use gadgets like mobile phones and laptops to check social media sites.

He said that was disrespectful to tutors, senior colleagues and patients and warned that his outfit was going to wage war on indiscipline generally in the training institutions since a student-nurse or any trainee health worker must be well-behaved to pass out as disciplined health personnel.

Mr Beyere presented a Nissan double-cabin pick-up vehicle donated by government to the school for their administrative and other operational purposes.

He again presented to the school 90 portable-sized lap-top computers from the Health Ministry for purchase by students at a subsidized cost at GH¢600.00 each.

Dr. Michael Rockson Adjei, Medical Superintendent of the Tain District Hospital, who doubles as the District Director of Health Services, advised the trainees to be abreast with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Four and Five so as to support the efforts towards their achievements.

That, he added, required serious studies to enable them to qualify as highly-skilled health workers to be able to contribute in achieving those goals.

He also reminded them to be abreast with the laws, regulations and ethics of the profession to avoid legal suits.

Mrs. Cordelia Yeboah, Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS) at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Health Directorate, implored the fresh students to realize that nursing was a profession of discipline, hence “they should not pass through the school but must allow the school to pass through them” to be disciplined.

She pleaded with the traditional authority, opinion leaders and people of Seikwa to make the institution their own by cooperating effectively with the principal, management and board of directors for its effective administration and progress.

Mr. Michael Yidana Mantamia, Principal of the School, entreated the newly-enrolled students to prepare themselves up for the course so as to be able to successfully complete.

He announced a motivation package to be instituted by the school to reward the student with the highest GCPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) as well as the most well-behaved-student.

Meanwhile, a seven-member Advisory Board of Directors for the school with Dr. Jacob Abebrese, Medical Director of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani as the Chair and the Principal as member-secretary, has been constituted and inaugurated.

Nana Kwaku Dwuma Ankoana II, Paramount Chief of Seikwa, admonished the students to avoid lifestyles and attitudes that could warrant a disciplinary measure or outright dismissal.