Mrs Cecilia Kalitsi, Deputy Registrar of the Nurses and Midwives Council, on Thursday said that only people with the aptitude for nursing should enter the profession.
She said this would remove the perception among some Ghanaians that nurses in the country are rude and uncaring.
Mrs Kalitsi was addressing the matriculation of 2010 Diploma and Community Health Nursing students of the Ho Nurses Training Institute, in
Ho.
She said: "some people have penchant and characteristics that are not amenable to nursing, and such people only become nurses because their
parents push them into it to put food on the table. I am saying this with all seriousness, I have met nurses who themselves have had bitter 'brushes with nurses' at health institutions.
At times the erring nurses would say I did not know you were a nurse, as if to say you treat patients according to the class they belong".
Mrs Kalitsi called on nurses to be courteous and have compassion for patients, and reminded the students that they were enjoined by oath to be dedicated to their work after the completion of their training.
Mr James Agboada, Principal of the College, said the 290 students enrolled for Community Health Nursing represented only 6.2 per cent of
qualified applicants while the 223 Registered General Nursing fresh students were 41 per cent of eligible applicants.
He said the school was grappling with inadequate "skills acquisition laboratories" as a result of which instead of "tutors talking to a class of 25 at a time, they talk to crowds".
Mr Agboada said the school needed buildings including auditorium and said only 20 per cent of students where in hostels with the rest at the
mercy of shylock landlords.
Mr Emmanuel Todzoh, President of the Student's Representative Council, appealed for more hostels on campus to ensure the security of students, who were often attacked by criminals as they commuted from town to school.
Mr Issach Kodobisah, Ho Municipal Chief Executive, who represented Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister, appealed to the students to take their studies seriously so that they could become good nurses.
Mama Atrato II, Queen of Dome, suburb of Ho, and chairperson of the school's Board, said the College was not getting its fair share of
development grants from government.