The 2013 Ghana Nurse and Midwife Trainees Association – School Representative Council’s (GNMTA-SCR) annual week celebrations of the Bolgatanga Nurses’ Training College (NTC) was on Friday disrupted, when a first year student of the college got drowned at Blue Sky Hotel pool at Combosco, near Bolgatanga, during a pool party.

Some colleagues of Enoch Yeboah, who were with him when the incident occurred, said they suspected a bottle of Guinness he took could have led to his drowning in the swimming pool of the hotel.

His body has since been deposited at the Regional Hospital Mortuary in Bolgatanga.

The expectations of the celebrants, who hoped to have used the event to raise funds during the climax at the weekend, through their much-awaited Beauty Pageant and Live Music Concert, were cut short.

The SRC of the college had intended to raise money during the two events to construct a toilet for the students.

The Bolgatanga Nurses’ Training College has been without toilet, and the issue had recently raised public concerns on how an institution training people to educate the public on hygiene and disease control did not have a place of convenience.

The lack of toilet compels students to defecate in the open.

Mr. Musah Mac-Moomin, Principal of the College, and the Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. J. Koku Awoonor-Williams, have raised issues of the negative implications of the situation, as they linked it to landowners demanding huge compensation before any expansion on the school land, and the lack of resources.

Confirming the death of Enoch, Mr. Mac-Moomin said the management of the College received the news with shock, because they had warned the celebrants to go about all outdoor activities with optimum carefulness, so as to stay away from trouble during the week-long programme.

Though regrettable as it was, the Principal said the death of the student was an eye-opener for both management and the student body, as they would take into consideration some restrictions and precautionary measures to avert a repetition whenever out-door events are to be organised.