Some 300 health extension workers employed under the Youth Employment Programme (YEP) in the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolis were on Monday presented with their letters of appointment at Sekondi. In an address read on his behalf Mr. Kwesi Nkrumah, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, said the health extension workers were going to beef up the nursing staff at health facilities in the area. He said they were also going to help provide adequate extension services at the basic level of health care to communities and health centers. Mr. Nkrumah said many health facilities in the area were under-staffed at the clinical level and this affected health delivery. Dr. Ted Avotri, the Metropolitan Director of Health Services, said the health extension workers would undergo six months training in basic nursing. They would be placed at the community level where they would work under the supervision of professional health workers and in collaboration with the structures of decentralized governance. Dr. Avotri said although they were not practicing health professionals, the health extension workers constituted a formidable resource for facilitating healthcare improvements. They would, therefore, receive periodic orientation and development to improve on their skills and competences to play their roles effectively, he said. Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, appealed to them to approach their training with dedication and commitment to enable them go into the mainstream nursing training and other professions in the health sector. Source GNA