Health care extension workers graduate in Omaheke

GOBABIS, 22 OCT  – Fifty-seven youth on Friday graduated as health care extension workers under the Ministry of Health and Social Services at Gobabis.
The graduation follows a six-month intensive theoretical and practical training course, which ended in July 2017.
Due to budgetary constraints, the graduation of the trainees could not take place immediately, and was delayed by over a year to Friday.
The trainees are expected to act as assistants to health care professionals by going into communities and doing assessments and referrals of patients to health centres for treatment.
The programme, which has been popular especially in rural areas, was introduced following a critical shortage of health care professionals in the country and is rolled out to regions.
Omaheke Governor Festus Ueitele in a speech read on his behalf implored the graduates to be exemplary in their conduct while on and off duty.
He said the services offered by the health extension workers have been of great importance in changing the lives of many in the region who are far from conventional health centres.
“Your work as a link between the community and the health care workers is important and you should therefore guard against unbecoming conduct that could bring doubts to the people you serve,” he said.
The governor further urged relevant stakeholders to come on board and meet Government halfway so as to allow for most, if not all, of the graduates to be employed.
Speaking on behalf of the graduates, Emil Makabanyane pledged their commitment to ensuring that they serve the community with a sense of humility and urgency.
Although concerned about the fact that they will only be deployed once funds are secured, Makabanyane urged his fellow graduates not to despair.
“We must remain hopeful that we too will get deployed in due course, just like the group trained before us,” he said.
Eighty trainees graduated from the same programme in the Omaheke Region a year before the commencement of the latest training.
Patricia Tuneeko was named Best Overall Student and also Best Student: Practicals, while Shereen Uamburu walked away with the Best Student: Theory award.
(NAMPA)