KNUST churns out 1, 287 nurses

Three nursing training institutions affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have held a joint graduation ceremony with a call to nurses to accept postings to deprived rural communities.

Dr. Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, Minister of Health, said they should accept to work under challenging conditions to bring relief to the sick. He said nursing is all about service to humanity. He asked them to show empathy to patients, uphold their code of ethics, maintain high standards of professionalism and should be diligent and to demonstrate passion for the job of helping to save lives.

In all, 1,287 students from the Kumasi Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Asante-Mampong Midwifery and Health Assistants Training School and the Saint Patrick’s Midwifery Training School at Offinso graduated and were presented with certificates. They represent the first batch of nurse trainees to be graduated under the KNUST-Ministry of Health partnership which was formalised with a Memorandum of Understanding, last year, mandating the university to supervise the training of nurses.

By the agreement, all nursing, community health and midwifery training colleges, as well as environmental health and health assistants’ training schools come under the academic management of the KNUST, including the award of certificates. Dr Agyemang-Mensah asked them to work hard in their various capacities to bring down the incidence of maternal and infant mortality and tame the resurgence of communicable diseases.

Professor William Otoo Ellis, Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, said the academic facility has the capacity to nurture the training institutions under it into fully-fledged reputable tertiary health training colleges. The university, he said, would work in concert with the academic board of the colleges and deepen its monitoring and supervisory roles to raise standards.