The Ministry of Health has interdicted the Head of the Mampong Nursing and Midwifery College for charging unauthorized fees from students of the institution.
Two other heads from the Cape Coast Nursing Midwifery Training and the School Dispensary Optics at Oyoko have also been interdicted for a similar offense.
The three heads have therefore been directed to step aside for full scale investigations to be conducted into their dealings.
That aside, the Board of the Mampong Nursing and Midwifery College has also been dissolved after serving its four-year mandate term with a new board said to be reconstituted in due course.
The schools have been cited for charging arbitrary fees for the 2016/2017 academic year, a situation the Ministry of Health contends, is contrary to the approved fees for those institutions.
The Minister for Health, Alex Segbefia who addressed a press conference in Accra on Wednesday said the practice if not checked “cripple the very reason for establishing these schools”.
“This practice has escalated to the extent that some schools are adding extra items as additional levies for the academic year, e.g. Cement, electronic system fees, stationary amongst others. We are unhappy about this practice because the exorbitant nature of such fees is defeating the purpose of getting those genuinely interested in providing health care into the institutions as against those who can afford it”, he said.
He added “this will ultimately result in the production of professionals whose dedication to duty will be in question”.
The Ministry, he stated, has also ordered, with immediate effect, for a refund of GH₵500.00 to students from some of the Christian Health Association of Ghana who were being charged that amount as logistic support, noting that “all other Nursing Training Institutions are being monitored and further actions may be taken regarding other schools”.
He said the Ministry of Health will not tolerate any institution under its mandate disregarding laid down policies and procedures.
According to the Segbefia, only the approved fees from the Ministry of Health as agreed on with Conference of Heads Health Training Institutions (COHHETI) should be charged.
The approved fees for the 2016/2017 academic year, he noted, is GH₵ 1400 without the above mentioned items.
He further directed that only schools that opted for the Cafeteria Services can charge additional GH₵ 600 for feeding as agreed by COHHETI.
“Fees for additional items such as feeding fees, books, accommodation, uniforms, sports kits, etc should be considered as optional and should not be made compulsory for students. Where there is the need to charge for additional fees as indicated above, approval should be sought from the Health Training Institutions Secretariat of the Ministry of Health before students are levied”.
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