Student nurses who get pregnant while in nursing training colleges can now have their babies while in school.
This is because the regulation that bars them from getting pregnant while undertaking their course has been scrapped by the Ministry of Health.
The decision comes on the back of incessant complaints by some pregnant women who have been prevented from sitting their examination because according to school authorities, the council’s regulation prohibits expectant mothers from writing exams while in school.
Earlier in May, a married pregnant woman in the Gushiegu Midwifery School was sacked from an examination hall midway through her papers. The principal of the School asked her to go home and return next year to complete her studies because of her four-month-old pregnancy.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council defended the Principal’s decision explaining that it was in the student’s best interest.
They explained that a pregnant woman may lack the capacity to effectively participate in all the activities.
There are harrowing stories of pregnant women forcefully delivering prematurely in order to sit an exam.
The situation has generated public outcry and compelled the health ministry to summon all heads of the nursing training colleges as well as the Nursing and Midwifery Council to address the issue.
In an interview with Citi News, Public Relations Officer for the Ministry, Robert Cudjoe explained that “we all came to that conclusion because we have also signed onto some international convention and is mandated for us to do away with such a policy which people are raising eyebrows over it. Henceforth, that policy that bars pregnant students from writing exams has been cancelled with immediate effect.”
The ministry will also ensure that all heads of such institutions comply with the directive.
“We are going to form a committee to ensure that all those clauses in the students’ handbook and admission letters are also removed and also ensure that any principal who flouts the directive will be punished” Mr Cudjoe concluded.
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By: Farida Shaibu/citifmonline.com/ghana
