Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Minister of Health, said this in a speech read on his behalf at the graduation ceremony of the Atibie Nursing and Midwifery Training College in the Eastern Region and the inauguration of the Air Force Cadet Corps of the College.

The 720 nursing trainees who graduated include the 2013 to 2017 batches. They pursued courses including Registered Midwifery and General Nursing.        Dr Agyemang-Manu said he would ensure that the picketing at his office for employment by health workers did not occur again.

He, however, urged newly graduated health workers to accept postings to the remote areas to ensure that Ghanaians all over the country received quality healthcare no matter where they reside.

He said government had paid all the nursing trainee allowances for 2017 and would soon pay those for January, February and March this year. He advised the students to use their allowances to pay their school fees and not to use them to buy the latest cell phones.

Dr Agyemang-Manu urged the students to study hard and pass their exams adding that government would not pay extra trainee allowances for anyone who would repeat a class for poor performance.

Mrs Paulina Osabutey, the Principal of the College, appealed for support to enable the College to complete the four-storey classroom block to help provide adequate classrooms for the trainees.

She appealed for the provision of dormitories, pick-up vehicle, a mini bus and lecturers’ bungalows to motivate lecturers to accept posting to the College. Mrs Osabutey said for some time now the College had had to engage the services of non-mechanised staff due to the non replacement of staff on retirement or when they go on transfer.

She said the College currently spent over GhC6,000.00 to pay for the services of the none mechanized staff and appealed to the Minister to put them on the Government Pay Roll to give the College some relief.

Daasebre Akoamoah Agyepong, the Kwahumanhene, in a speech read on his behalf, advised the graduates to abide by the ethics of the nursing profession and place high value on the lives of their patients.

He urged them to continue learning to progress in their career.