Picketing nursing trainee students have been suspended

The trainee nurses from Dunkwa Nursing Training College who picketed in Accra to demand unpaid allowances have been suspended Myjoyonline.com can confirm.

The students numbering about 500 spent the night in Accra on May 18, 2015 after they were bused from Cape Coast to protest three years of unpaid allowances.

The leaders of the picketers later met with the Health Minister Alex Segbefia who promised to have their allowances paid.

Myjoyonline.com can confirm that a month after meeting the Minister the students have still not received their allowances.

Rather they have been suspended with some facing the risk of having their registration to take part in the final state diploma licensing examination revoked.

The punitive measures were taken by the Advisory Board of the school.

In a letter signed by the Board Chair of the School Nana Addai Gyambra said the Dunkwa midwifery is built on the solid foundation of patience, tolerance, respect for authorities and obedience for which reason the school will not countenance any form of disrespect from the students.

"I must state this institution is governed by rules and regulations which every student is under obligation to obey every bit of it to the letter . The advisory board and management of the school will not sit down for the students to dictate what goes on in the school.

Discipline still rules and it will continue to be the hallmark of the school," Addai Gyambra stated in the letter to the students which Myjoyonline.com has intercepted.

While condemning the decision by the students to board eight buses to Accra without authorization from the school authorities, the advisory board said it is even more disappointed that the student leaders have shown no sign of remorse and have even refused to apologise for their action.

For the gross insubordination, the board has applied the following sanctions; "Write an apology letter to the school's management board members, stakeholders, Association executives, Nananom and the Minister of Health.

"Your are required to sign a bond to be of good behavior.

"The first two requirements are to be met by June 18, 2015, 12:00pm prompt," the first part of the punitive measures read.

The affected students must also perform "two weeks of internal suspension with hard labour ie. 19th-26th June and the second week starting from 10th-17th July 2015.

"Note for the outgoing students , failure to comply with these directives with immediate effect will compel the school to revoke their registration to take part in the impending final state diploma licensing examination and for the continuing students, the rest
will follow," the last part of the sanctions read.

Source:  Myjoyonline.com | Nathan Gadugah

IT specialist arrested over nurses training school admission scam

An Information Technology (IT) expert who is suspected to be behind a syndicate that hacks into the online nurses training school admission system of the Ministry of Health has been arrested by the police.

The suspect, Isaac Kwesi Otibu, 27, an official of the IT Department of the Accra Regional Hospital School of Anaesthesia at Ridge, is said to have generated his own online forms and receipts in the name of the ministry which he sold and issued to potential students.

An accomplice, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, has also been arrested.

The accomplice is said to have mounted an illegal sales point for the sale of the forms, although they were to be bought at the health training schools.

The health training schools include nurses training schools, health assistant training schools, school of hygiene, psychiatric nurses training schools, school of dental technology, public health, community nursing, peri-operative and school of anaesthesia.

The syndicate, which has been detected nationwide in all health training schools, is said to have cost the Ministry of Health about GH¢3 million, representing 50 per cent of its internally generated funds from the sale of the nurses training school admission forms.

Prospective students pay GH¢80 for online forms, after which they are issued with receipts with special codes which are used to fill the admission forms online.

An additional GH¢20 is paid for an envelope and postage of the admission letter.


Sales person detects fake code

The Accra Regional Police Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Paul Natongma, told the Daily Graphic that the suspects were being processed for court on a provisional charge of forging documents.

Otibu, he said, was arrested after a sales person of the School of Anaesthesia was approached by a potential student with a receipt purported to have been issued by the school.

The sales person was said to have found out that the code on the receipt was fake, even though it had similar features like the authentic receipt.


More victims

Confirming the case, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Mr Tony Goodman, said the suspects had been syphoning revenue due the ministry and defrauding applicants for some time now.

“We suspect many people have fallen victim. In such cases, when people buy the forms from these fraudsters, they are not selected in the admission process because it is detected that the codes are fake,” he said.

According to him, the fake forms were sold in vans, illegal sales points and Internet cafes across the country.

Mr Goodman said until 2013, the ministry used the manual process by which applicants had to buy brochures at post offices which they filled and submitted through courier services, after indicating the schools of their choice.

“However, two years ago, we discovered that people were printing the manual brochures and selling them to unsuspecting applicants,” he said, adding that “the ministry then decided to invest in a system that would put a stop to the situation, leading to the acquisition of a server for the generation of software for the issuing of the receipt and online services”.


Source: Written by Emelia Ennin Abbey, Graphic.com.gh

Anglican University College of Technology appeals for assistance

Nkoranza (B/A), April 26, GNA – The Authorities of the Anglican University College of Technology at Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region have appealed to the First Lady, Mrs. Lordina Mahama to assist the Institution to set up three Health Programmes to enhance its development.

According to the University, the Programmes include Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Diploma in Midwifery and Health Assistants.

Reverend Canon Dr. Joe Eyison, the Dean of the School of Food and Health Science of the University made the appeal on behalf of the Institution through the Omanhene of Nkoranza, Okatakyie Agyeman Kudom, when the First Lady paid a courtesy call on the Omanhene at his Palace on Wednesday.

Rev. (Dr.) Eyison said the University had been given the clearance by the Nursing and Midwifery Council to run the three Programmes in the 2015/2016 Academic Year and would therefore need the support of the First Lady to be able to articulate the plans.

He stressed that the Institution had contracted the services of MEVEGA Consortium to draw a curriculum and identified the list of books and equipment that would lead it to get accreditation from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to start work on the three Programmes.

Rev.(Dr) Eyison identified inadequate classrooms, lack of skills laboratories for the General Nursing and Midwifery as well as inadequate Recommended Text-books as major challenges facing the University, emphasizing that, the position was militating against the immediate take off of the Programmes, hence imploring Mrs Mahama for her assistance in that direction.

The Dean of School of Food and Health Science of the University expressed the hope that the establishment of the three Programmes would serve the people of Nkoranza and its environs and even the entire country to fill the manpower requirement to meet the Millennium Development Goals Four(4) and Five(5).

Okatakyie Agyeman Kudom added his voice to the University’s request and urged the Government to come to its aid, as a way to expand the Academic Programmes of the Institution.

The Omanhene praised Mrs. Mahama for assisting them with a number of development programmes to complement the efforts of Government to improve the lifestyles of the people of the area.

Source: Ghana News Agency