The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has vowed to abolish the quota system of enrolling student nurses into nursing training colleges in Ghana if it wins the 2023 general elections.
The flag bearer of the NDC, former President John Dramani Mahama, made the promise during a visit to the Nursing and Midwifery Training College at Esiama in the Western Region on Thursday.
Mahama said the quota system, which was introduced by the current government, was unfair and discriminatory to many qualified applicants who wanted to pursue nursing as a career.
He said the NDC would invest in building more health facilities, such as CHPS compounds, polyclinics, health centers and hospitals, to provide more jobs for the nurses upon completion of their courses. He also said the NDC would restore the training allowance for student nurses, which was replaced by the Students Loan Scheme by the previous NDC administration.
Mahama said the loan scheme was meant to expand access and improve the quality of nursing education, but the current government had failed to pay the allowances to the second-year students. He appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahmoud Bawumia to pay the allowances to the student nurses immediately.
Mahama also directed the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, to provide the college with a new water pump to replace the old one, since the pressure from the water from Esiama town to the college was low.
According to a report by Daily Graphic, the MP assured the student nurses that he would address the challenges they faced and urged them to vote for Mahama and the NDC in the upcoming elections.
The Principal of the College, Mrs. Cecilia Boame, in a speech read on her behalf, said the school was in dire need of a new 60-seater bus to shuttle students outside the college for clinical services in the catchment area.
She said the current bus, which was donated to the school by the late President John Evans Atta Mills, was old and weak.
The SRC President of the college, Ms. Humaizer Abubakar, praised Mahama for his interventions and progress in the health sector from 2012 to 2016. She said Mahama’s decision to contest the seat again “is a testament of an enduring compassion to spearhead development of Ghana.”
She expressed hope that Mahama would win the 2023 elections and fulfill his promises to the nursing fraternity and the nation at large.
The NDC is one of the major political parties in Ghana, which has ruled the country for 16 years since the return to multiparty democracy in 1992.
The party is currently in opposition, having lost the 2016 elections to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), led by Akufo-Addo. The NDC is seeking to regain power in the 2023 elections, with Mahama as its presidential candidate for the third time.
The party has launched its manifesto, titled “The People’s Manifesto,” which outlines its vision and policies for the country’s development. The manifesto covers various sectors, such as health, education, economy, agriculture, infrastructure, governance, security, and social welfare.
The NDC has also embarked on a nationwide campaign tour to interact with the electorate and solicit their votes. The party has expressed confidence that it will win the 2023 elections and deliver on its promises to the people of Ghana.
