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Three heads of health institutions asked to step aside

The Ministry of Health has asked heads of three Nursing Colleges to step aside for their deputies to allow for further investigations into the charging of arbitrary fees for the 2016/2017 academic year.

They include the Heads of Mampong Nursing and Midwifery College, Cape Coast Nursing Midwifery College and School of Dispensary Optics, Oyoko.

The Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia, was addressing the media in Accra on the current happenings in the health training institutions.

He said government is not happy with the practice as the exorbitant nature of such fees are defeating the purpose of getting genuinely interested people in providing health care into the institutions as against those who can afford it.

Mr Segbefia said the ministry had learnt that some of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) schools are charging an extra amount of GH₵500.00 as logistic support, which was unacceptable.

He therefore called for the immediate refunding of such monies to students, adding that those fees were illegal.

He cautioned that all other Nursing Training Institutions are being monitored and further actions may be taken regarding other schools when found culpable.

“The ministry would not tolerate any institution under its mandate disregarding laid down policies and procedures,” he said.

Mr Segbefia urged the heads and school managements to only charge the approved fees from the Ministry as agreed by the Conference of Heads Health Training Institutions (COHHETI).

He said the approved fees for the 2016/2017 academic year is GH₵1400.00 without any logistics fees however, only schools that have opted for cafeteria services could charge additional GH₵600.00 for feeding as agreed by COHHETI.

He said items such as feeding fees, books, accommodation, uniforms, and sports kits among others should be considered as optional and not be made compulsory for students.

“Where there is need to charge for additional fees as indicated above, approval should be sought from the Health Training Institutions Secretariat of the Ministry before students are levied.”

He urged all institutions to adhere to the directives to ensure coherence and uniformity in the fees charged by the Health Training Institutions.

He said the board of Mampong Nursing Training and Midwifery College has been dissolved since its four-year mandated term had elapsed, saying a new board would be constituted soon.

GNA

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