Nursing and Midwifery Council kicks off year-long 50th anniversary celebration

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana has commenced its year-long 50th-anniversary celebration.

Celebrating 50 years of regulatory excellence, the Council will climax the celebration with a thanksgiving service in March 2021.

The Council anticipates a future of transforming nursing and midwifery regulation and embracing innovations to further its mission of securing in the public interest, the highest standards of training, education and practice of nursing and midwifery.

The anniversary was kicked off with a two-day international webinar hosted by the Council.

Topics discussed at the program were ‘Embracing 21st Century Technology for the 21st Century Nurse or Midwife’, ‘Nothing about the Patient without the Patient’, ‘Exploring Mutual benefits between Nurses and Midwives in the Diaspora and Ghana’, and ‘Nurses and Midwives, the Drivers of Universal Health Coverage’.

The speakers included Diana Mukami, Digital Learning Director and Head of Programmes Amref, Kenya, Elizabeth Oywer, Nursing Education and Practice Consultant, Kenya, Gifty Y. Lano, Founding President and Chairperson of Board of Trustees, NAGNF, USA and Dr. Emmanuel Ankrah Odame Director, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, MOH, Ghana.

At the opening of the two-day pre-anniversary launch webinars on June 23, 2020 for over 300 participants worldwide, the Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Felix Nyante touched on some achievements of the Council.

According to him, throughout its 50-year history, the Council has been a ground-breaker.

Some of its accomplishments include developing and implementing online licensing examination for nursing and midwifery trainees with the support of the Netherlands Embassy through its Capacity Development in Higher Education Programme Initiative (NICHE) and the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC).

The Council, which currently has over 140,000 followers on social media, has also reduced the number of subjects that were taken for the licensing examination from six to three, digitized some of its services, and set up 12  decentralized offices across Ghana with more preparations in place to have decentralized offices in the six newly created regions.

Furthermore, the Council’s stringent nursing and midwifery regulatory systems have earned global applause. More countries continue to send delegates to understudy the operations of the Council.

In recent times, Nursing and Midwifery Councils from Malawi, Uganda, Liberia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia have visited the Council in Ghana. Countries such as Barbados, Germany and the United Kingdom have expressed confidence in engaging nurses and midwives from Ghana to support their healthcare systems.

On her part, the Chairperson of the 14th Governing Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Rev. Veronica Darko, said it was a great privilege and responsibility for the Council to regulate such an important and trusted profession.

“We want to use our anniversary to reflect on all that has been achieved since 1971 and show how nurses and midwives have made and continue to make a difference for people using standards, protection and service. If we are to play our part in making sure safe, high quality and consistent standards of care are being delivered, we need to continue to improve,” she said in her address during the webinar.

“Our anniversary celebrations are the perfect springboard for the WHO Year of the Nurse and Midwife in 2020 and our own development as we gear up to introduce more transformational programmes to address the growing trends in the nursing and midwifery profession. I want nurses and midwives to make 2020 a fantastic year of celebration for our profession and create a change in the way clients, the public and policymakers think of and see our profession.”

Below are the activities slated for the 50th Anniversary Celebration:

1. Webinars
a) Nurses and Midwives, the Drivers of Universal Health Coverage
b) Nothing about the Patient without the Patient
c) Embracing 21st Century Technology for the 21st Century Nurse or Midwife
d) Exploring Mutual Benefits between Nurses and Midwives in the Diaspora and Ghana

2. Launch of History Book titled, “A credible Chronological Genesis of Nursing and Midwifery in Ghana”.

3. Dissemination of the 50th Anniversary Research titled, “Transition and Innovation in Nursing and Midwifery Practice, Education, Research and Policy in Ghana”.

4. The First Credentialing Forum

5. Launch of Online CPDs

6. Launch of Course Book on French for Nurses and Midwives

7. Commissioning of the Refurbished Maternity Block of the Government Hospital in Nsawam