The 12th Batch of 525 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), comprising 257 drivers and 268 non-drivers, last Friday passed out at the Paramedic and Emergency Care Training School (PECTS) at Nkenkaasu in the Offinso North district.
It follows a year’s intensive training programme in Emergency Medical Services to handle medical emergencies from Road Traffic crashes.
The number adds to the over 2,000 youths who have benefitted from the recruitment drive into the National Ambulance Service (NAS) since 2017.
The trained personnel would go to strengthen the mandate of the NAS and feed the over 297 ambulance stations across the country and man the 307 ultra modern state-of-the-art Advanced Life Support Ambulance, while providing integrated high quality, pre-hospital emergency and medical care, health transport medical retrieval and others.
Five of the graduates who excelled during the one-year training programme received various awards.
Kwame Wisdom Mawuli, who was adjudged the Overall best, was also the best in Academics.
The other awards winners were; Richard Manu (Best in Drill), Courage Dzadey (Best in Driving) and Yakubu Halim (Best in Practicals), with the CEO’s Award going to 23-year-old Mariam Yahaya, for excelling among the female recruits.
Tina Mensah, the Deputy Minister of Health, who represented the Health Minister, hinted that the long term goal of the government is for PECTS to become a training centre for Paramedics in the sub-region and a refresher course Centre for Emergency Care Training for Medical Professionals in Ghana.
She announced that the Ministry of Health had secured funding for the construction of a three-story Training Complex.
The Deputy Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe disclosed that the Board Chairman of the National Ambulance Service, Nana Wiafe Ababio, had secured the necessary support from the Middle Belt Authority to construct a new Dining Hall for the Training Centre.
The Board Chairman, Nana Wiafe Ababio commended the management of NAS for their dedication to excellence that had led to shaping the graduates into competent professionals as lifesavers, alleviators of suffering and bearers of hope.
He reiterated the call of the Offinso Traditional Council for expansion of infrastructure for the development of the school.
Collins Augustine Ntim, Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister for Local Government, expressed happiness that the collaborative efforts of the Offinso Traditional Council, the District Assembly and himself had yielded positive results, as the school has developed progressively over the years.
He said he was looking forward to the establishment of the Local Government University at Akomadan and upgrading PECTS to a university status, to run an Emergency medicine programme and to add to the number of tertiary institutions in the district.
Nana Kwaku Duah, acting President of the Offinso Traditional Council, commended Offinso North lawmaker, Collins Ntim, the CEO of NAS, Prof. Ahmed Nuhu Zakariah, for their roles in the establishment of the school.
He noted that the siting of PECTS at Nkenkaasu to produce paramedics was a perfect one, but noted that PECTS needed a face-lift and thus appealed to the government to consider focusing on expansion and development of the school.
Meanwhile, Albert Sefa Boampong, the District Chief Executive for Offinso North has assured that the District administration and Assembly would cooperate with management of PECTS to achieve the purpose for which the school was established in the vicinity.
