NATIONAL HEALTH TRAINING CENTER (NHTC) NEEDS EXPANSION TO MEET OBJECTIVES - PHOOKO
 
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Motloheloa Phooko says the National Health Training Center (NHTC) needs to be improved so that it meets its objectives of producing the manpower to drive the ministry. Dr Phooko said this during the visit of the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland at the NHTC on Thursday 05 Septermber,2002. He said the institution now needs to be expanded to meet the millennium challenges and to introduce new disciplines that include physiotherapy and others which are currently not offered at the institution.

He said the expansion and improvement of the NHTC would not only enable the introduction of new disciplines but would also help to increase in enrolling a large number of students. The Minister highlighted the deterioration in delivery of health services, saying the main cause is insufficient manpower, adding that if the institution could be improved, service delivery would also improve.

 Dr Phooko appealed to the WHO Director General to reflect on the problems that she had seen and been told about and to offer assistance so that health services, especially in the remote areas could be improved. He concluded by thanking the WHO for all the financial and material assistance offered by the organisation to the government in its daily
endeavours.

In response, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland said the government is faced with abig challenge to get sufficient human resource educated, saying in some cases, as people get trained, there is also a drainage to better infrastructure. She said the WHO gives full attention to developing countries; especially those which invest in health, as it is the organisation's priority, adding that health is a human right not a privilege.

Dr. Brundtland said although WHO has little resources, she will help in anyway possible to ensure that health service delivery is improved. She concluded by commending the government for offering training to disabled people in various fields, saying the Ithuseng Rehabilitation Center reaches the lives of the disabled people in a special way. She said this after touring the NHTC and the Ithuseng Rehabilitation Center where she was able to see various works in leather, steel and sewing produced by the students. Dr. Brundtland was in Lesotho on a two-day visit as the guest of the government of Lesotho.

05 September,2002

 

  SOURCE: LENA