NURSING TRAINING NOW FEE-PAYING?

The Ghana Nurses and Midwife Trainees Association (GNMTA) has expressed grave frustration at the astronomical increase in their school fees for the next academic year which commences this week. GNMTA has consequently given the Ministry of Health (MOH) up to Tuesday August 7 to organize a stakeholders meeting aimed at resolving the hike in the school fees as well as the glaring disparities and inconsistencies.

The trainee nurses and midwives are disturbed over a nearly 100% increment in their school fees from an amount of GH¢580 to between GHC880 and GH¢1,100 per semester. This brings the total amount to be paid per year by a student to between GH¢1,760 and GH¢ 2,200 raising questions as to whether nursing training in the public training institutions had become fee-paying.

The increment, according to them is likely to hinder potential students from accessing nursing training and also cause the withdrawal of some continuing students from the nursing institutions since they may not be able to afford the high fees. They also expressed worry about the disparity that exists in the fee structure across the various institutions in the country.

President of GNMTA, Ernest Sarpong said they had written to the Ministry of Health several times but they have not received any reply. He however expressed hope that this time, the Ministry of Health would engage them and subsequently address their concerns immediately since schools are due to resume this week. Asked what their next step will be in case the MOH does not address their concerns by the said date, the president revealed that there were a number of contingency plans which will be activated as and when the need arises. He has therefore appealed to the government to alleviate the suffering of student nurses by acting swiftly to reduce the fees or they will advise themselves.

He further stated that in the current state of affairs, they will be paying almost as twice as their counterparts studying nursing at the first degree level in the public universities. He cited the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast where nursing students will be paying about GHC1, 000 and GHC 1,200 as fees for a whole academic year. “If you compare the certificates we receive to that of those with a degree, you would realize that we are paying the highest amount of school fees in Ghana and this is pushing a lot of potential nursing trainees away from the service. “We want to have a meeting with them to resolve the unpleasant situation, if not we will advise ourselves on the next possible step to take” Ernest Sarpong said.

When contacted, Mr. Tony Goodman, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health said his outfit had not received any such letter but confirmed hearing the release in the media. He explained that fees charged by the health training institutions are done upon approval by MOH and stated that the approved fees for the basic programmes for the next academic year is GHC 880 thus bringing the breakdown to GHC 440 per semester. He however clarified the situation by saying that the said hike in the fees would possibly be due to other charges including utilities, clinical fees, library facilities and others which were peculiar to every institution hence the hike and disparities.

He asked the students to exercise restraint and endeavour to channel their grievances through the right channels saying their request would be evaluated appropriately and address as soon as it is brought to the MOH's attention officially.

Story Hermann Ablade Adjase-Kodjo