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The Gambia’s delegation understudy Nursing and Midwifery Council’s transformational agenda

By
Christabel Addo, GNA

Accra, Dec. 12, GNA –
The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana (N&MC), has received a
two-member delegation from its sister Organisation in The Gambia, to understudy
its transformational agenda.

The delegation was
led by Mr Mafugi Bojang, the Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in
The Gambia, who was accompanied by Mr. 
Alasana Darboe, his Deputy.

Mr Bojang at a brief
ceremony in Accra, said his outfit chose to understudy Ghana due to the
overwhelming credibility and integrity of the country’s robust regulatory
system for the training, education and practice of nursing and midwifery.

Mr. Darboe also
explained that the visit formed part of the efforts of The Gambia, to
restructure and transform its nursing and midwifery education, training and
practice.

He said their visit
would offer them the opportunity to understudy N&MC’s licensing examination
structure with particular interest in the “online licensing examination
which Ghana has been touted as the first in Africa to introduce online
examination in the training and education of nursing and midwifery
profession”.

He also mentioned
other areas of interest as the ongoing reforms in respect to indexing,
registration, accreditation, and the success stories of Ghana’s Council.

Mrs. Philomina
Woolley, the Deputy Registrar in charge of Operations at the Nursing and  Midwifery Council of Ghana, with the
assistance of some senior officers received the delegation on behalf of the 14th
Governing Board, the Registrar, Management and Staff.

She took the
delegation through series of presentations and discussions on the Council’s
mandate, change management processes of the online licensing examination,
digitization of the indexing process, renewal of license to practice, and the
general operations of the Council.

She said the
Council  In November 2017 received
support for the development and implementation of the online licensing
examination project from the Netherlands Embassy through its Capacity
Development in Higher Education programme initiative (NICHE) and The Netherland
Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC).

Mrs. Woolley
explained that when the online licensing examination was finally introduced in
September 2018, it had 374 Registered Mental Health Nurses from three training
institutions as its first batch of candidates.

However, “currently close to 8,000 nursing and
midwifery candidates have taken licensing examination in Registered Mental
Health Nursing, Registered Community Nursing, Registered Midwifery, Post
Nursing Assistant Clinical, and Preventive (NAC and NAP) respectively,
Midwifery, Peri-Operative Nursing, Ophthalmic Nursing, Critical Care Nursing,
Public Health Nursing and Ear, Nose and Throat Nursing,” she said.

She said it is
expected that in the year 2020, the Registered General Nursing and Registered
Nurse Assistants (Clinical and Preventive) programmes would  be rolled on, to make the entire conduct of
the licensing examination by the Council fully digitized.

Explaining the
success of  of the online licensing
examination, Mrs. Woolley said prior to its implementation, the Council took
time to engage the various training institutions in an intensive education on
the mode of operation of the exams.

It further conducted
mock exercises to prepare the candidates psychologically by giving them a prior
exposure to the computers and the new mode of examination  before the main exams was conducted.

She told the
delegation that the Council is currently implementing the project in
partnership with a consortium comprising CINOP Global and the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology.

The Gambian
delegation were highly impressed about the delivery and requested the
assistance of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana to restructure and
transform the nursing and midwifery regulatory system in their country.

According to the
delegation, they were ever ready to understudy and implement the
transformational models and initiatives introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery
Council of Ghana.

Mrs. Woolley also
assured the delegation of the N&MC’s preparedness to cooperate, collaborate
and assist in the restructuring and transformation of the nursing and midwifery
regulatory system and operations in The Gambia as requested.

Giving a brief background, she said this visit
follows study tours from many other countries including Uganda, Malawi,
Tanzania, Liberia and Ethiopia who have underscored Ghana’s growing
international recognition in nursing and midwifery regulation.    

International
countries such as Barbados, Germany, United Kingdom, and Jamaica among others
have greatly expressed interest in engaging the services of Ghanaian nursing
and midwifery practitioners, she added.

The delegation also
visited the school of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Ghana, Legon
and the Nursing and Midwifery Training School in Koforidua to acquaint
themselves with the various courses being taught in the institutions.

GNA

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