The Ministry of Health has said health practitioners in the country will soon be required to provide a degree certificate before getting a job in the health sector.
According to the rector of the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Hannah Akua Oparebea Acquah, who spoke on behalf of the sector Minister Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the goal is to ensure that a bachelor’s degree becomes the minimum qualification for practising nurses and midwives, while diploma and certificate are phased out.
She noted that the step will help meet the public’s changing demands since there are calls for upgrade of health institutions into tertiary status to improve nursing and midwifery training education and also to meet the changing health care needs of the public.
“As we are all aware, there are calls for upgrade of health Institutions into the tertiary status to improve nursing and midwifery training education and also to meet the changing health care needs of the public.
“This means that eventually, a first degree will be the minimum requirement at any level of our health education system” she stated during the 14th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Conference of Heads of Health Training Institutions (COHHETI) in Koforidua, Eastern Region on October 31, 2021.
In her further submissions, Mrs. Oparebea said a stakeholder consultation will soon take place to develop policies as part of plans to upgrade all health training institutions to full-fledged tertiary schools.
“To achieve this feat, there should be a broader stakeholder consultation and engagement that will see to the development of a policy that will make all health training fully-fledged tertiary institutions”.
