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The Ministry of Health (MOH) is negotiating with the Nurses and Midwives Council to establish a two year Registered General Nursing programme. As efforts to make Ghana the health training hub in the sub region, the programme will target Health Assistants who have gained experience to sit for examinations for mature students. Some universities admit diploma students to level 300 to undertake degree programmes, while the medical school admit BSC in health sciences for a-four-year medical course. Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, Director, Human Resource Division of MOH announced this at the first matriculation of Family Health Nursing Training School in Accra on Friday. It is a private institution established in 2008 to make knowledge dissemination practicable. He said in view of the increasing number of health assistants that was likely to overwhelm diploma holding professionals, the ministry would encourage health educational institutions to upgrade their programmes. Dr. Appiah-Denkyira said the MOH was also negotiating with the Co-ordinator of National Youth Employment Programme to consider personnel with the requisite qualification to participate in the programme. He commended the role of the private sector in health care delivery and urged the institutions to include in their curriculum customer care, value and ethics. However, Dr Appiah-Denkyira asked them to avoid controversy on entry requirements and profit at the expense of accommodation for staff and students, transportation, equipment and skills laboratories. He called on the students to study hard, be disciplined and noted that the stakes were high because of the opportunities now available for them in the health sector. Professor Enyonam Kwawukume, Chairman of the Board of Directors advised the students to sharpen their listening capacity because they had an advantage of having a hospital attached to the school to make learning practicable. The school, he said would not compromise on discipline and reminded the students that being pioneers of the institution they had challenges and urged the authorities to help them to gain positively from the challenges. Prof. Kwawukume said the board had established relationship with the West African Training School and Nursing Training School in the US for Exchange programmes for the students. Air Vice Marshal C.E.K. Dovlo, Commandant of Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre, urged the authorities to endeavour to make the school a centre of excellence and its students worthy ambassadors. To the students he said "equipment and facilities would not necessarily make them good students but rather hard work and discipline". Colonel Monica Andoh (Rtd), Principal of the School, said the first batch of 31 students all men were admitted. She said out of the 135 applicants for the second batch only 85 were admitted due to financial constraints. Twenty per cent of them are men and 80 per cent women.