Moves to revamp ICT Centres in health institutions
THE Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) is rolling out a programme to revamp Information Communication and Technology (ICT) centres in all health training institutions in the country.
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The project, which is being executed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, will ensure that nurse trainees have unhindered access to the internet and other electronic facilities.
Health Minister
The Health Minister, Mr Alex Segbefia, made this known in a speech read on his behalf at the 10th annual general meeting of the Conference of Heads of Health Training Institutions (COHHETI) in Cape Coast.
The four-day conference, which is on the theme: “Sanitation for all: The role of Health Training Institutions,” will map out the strategy for the next year.
Mr Segbefia said the vision of achieving excellence in healthcare delivery to make the country the medical hub and tourist centre for West Africa, depended on the role that the heads of training institutions played in the training of health professionals.
“It is an undisputable fact that the health training institutions hold the key to good sanitation, knowledge, attitudes and skills. There is also the need to have a paradigm shift and a change in attitude, especially in our lifestyles and quality health service delivery,” he stressed.
Mr Segbefia underscored the need for members to make use of technology to enhance teaching and learning to ensure that their products would be well-equipped with current trends in health care.
The Central Regional Minister, Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, said a study carried out by the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) in 2012 indicated that poor sanitation cost the country GH¢420 million.
He said it was unfortunate that the bad attitude of citizens towards waste disposal, including open defecation into gutters and on shores of beaches, accounted significantly for the country’s failure at achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target on sanitation.
In a welcome address, the President of the COHHETI, Mrs Sophia Agyei-Aye, commended the sector ministry for its commitment to the training of quality health professionals by providing the needed resources and support.
She noted, however, that it had been a long while since schools were allocated any budget for emergency needs, adding that that imposed a strain on the meagre resources of the institutions.
