The Chiefs and People of the Offinso Traditional Area have appealed to the government to prioritise the infrastructural expansion of the Paramedic and Emergency Care Training School (PECTS), at Nkenkaasu.
According to the chiefs, the people in the area are not entirely pleased to see that the training school had remained in the same state as it was handed to the National Ambulance Service (NAS) by Nana Wiafe Akenten III, the late paramount chief of the traditional area.
Nana Kwaku Dua II, Acting President of the Offinso Traditional Area, who made the call, said PECTS required an urgent attention to enable it deliver on its mandate of training professionals for the country’s emergency medical services.
In an address read on his behalf at the graduation parade for the fourth batch of Advance Emergency Medical Technicians (AEMTs), at Nkenkaasu in the Offinso North District, Nana Duah said the NAS played a critical role in the country’s health care delivery and required the necessary support from the government to fulfill its mandate effectively.
Nana Dua said the training school was the sole institution that produced paramedics and that there was the need to develop it to international standards.
He said the chiefs and the people would continue to support and work closely with the management of NAS, especially in training, security, and the provision of pre-hospital care, to achieve the school’s objectives.
Mr Augustine Collins Ntim, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, who was the reviewing officer at the parade, said since its inception in 2004, the NAS had increased its station from Seven to 297, across the country.
The 157 AEMTs who graduated had also added up the number of personnel of the Service to 2,958, throughout the country.
They received training in anatomy and physiology, patient assessment and vital signs, I.V access and pharmacology, trauma and emergency care, medical, behavioral, environmental and obstetrics and gynecology emergencies, among others.
Mr Ntim, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, said lack of dedicated source of funding, inadequate infrastructure and capacity building facilities were some of the challenges facing the training school.
As an MP for the area, he makes personal efforts to support and tackle some of the challenges, especially the infrastructure inadequacies of the school.
He called on all well-to-do individuals, agencies and organisations to support the government to improve infrastructure at the school.
Nana Wiafe Ababio, Board Chairman of NAS, said the Board would work hand in hand with the management and the Ministry of Health to strengthen and expand services and ensure that quality emergency care reached every corner of the country.
Source: Ghana News Agency