More Youth To Be Employed

A total of 10,800 youth from across the country are to gain employment under the Health Extension Workers Module of the National Youth Employment Programme {NYEP}.

The NYEP which will involve dressing of beds of patients and cleaning of equipment in the hospitals is aimed at relieving nurses of some of their duties so that they can concentrate on their core duties.

Mr. Boniface Saddique Abubakar, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment announced this at an orientation programme for facilitators of the Health Extension Workers in Accra on Monday.

The facilitators made up of Health Directors from the Greater Accra Region are expected to train successful applicants for the programme for six months.

'The programme while seeking to address the problem of unemployment will also relieve nurses and other health workers of their tight schedule, thereby ensuring more efficiency in the public health sector where the youth will be engaged under the programme,' he said.

Mr. Saddique Abubakar dismissed rumours that some junior secondary school graduates were being engaged for the programme.

He said 'the programme apart from providing employment opportunities for the youth, will also help them to upgrade their academic and professional training in the health sector.'

The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Mrs Frema Opare urged the beneficiaries under the programme to use the opportunity to upgrade themselves in the health sector.

The National Youth Employment Programme was launched by President J.A. Kufuor on October 3, 2006 to empower the youth through human capacity building and creation of job opportunities in all the 138 districts of the country.

It is also to equip the youth with the technological and industrial skills, appropriate work ethics and individual initiative to enhance productivity.

The programme will be based on 10 modules which include auxiliary nursing, Information Communication Technology, agri-business, community education, community protection systems and teaching assistance.