Gov’t restores ‘scrapped’ nursing trainee allowances

• Posted on July 22, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

A technical committee set up by the President to review allowances for nursing trainees has recommended payment of an abated allowance with a possibility to migrate them unto the Students Loan Scheme. This was contained in a statement signed by the Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia.

Government announced a scrapping of the allowances in order to remove the restrictions on admission to the various training institutions due to the huge amount it had to pay in the form of allowances. This was in order to give more students the opportunity to gain admissions into these institutions.

However, the scrapping was met with much resistance from some students who rely on the allowances to support themselves in school. This led to the setting up of a committee to advise on the way forward. Per the committee’s recommendation, 34,500 students who are currently pursuing various levels of health professional training across the country will receive a payment of GHc 150 a month.

The statement said “the payment amount would serve as a bridging mechanism pending the amendment of the Students Loan Trust Act, to enable students in non-tertiary health training institutions access loans to support education.” President John Mahama in a recent radio interview hinted that “some part of the allowance will be given as loans to the students with some part given to them as stipends to continue their course.” –

By: Eugenia Tenkorang