The Physiotherapy Assistant and Orthotics Training School at Duayaw-Nkwanta in Tano North District, has appealed to the government to include it on the list of health institutions to be provided with infrastructural facilities this year. The school established in the 2009/2010 academic year to offer a two-year certificate programme in Physiotherapy Assistant and Orthotics is the first in Ghana, second in West Africa and fourth in Africa after South Africa, Tanzania and Togo. It currently has 84 students. The course content includes Human Anatomy and Physiology, Computing, Principles and Practice of Physiotherapy (Medical, Surgical, Neuro-Surgical, Paediatric, Obstetrical and Gynaecology and Geriatric Conditions). Others are Communication, Study Skills and Report Writing, Medical Sociology, Musculoskeletal Trauma, Rheumatology, Basic Statistics, Prosthetic and Orthotics as well as Health Service Organisation and Administration. The Reverend Sister Comfort Michelle Apedzi, Acting Principal, who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Duayaw-Nkwanta, said the school was using the accommodation facilities of St John of God Catholic Hospital for teaching and administrative purposes. Rev Sister Apedzi expressed the hope that the Ministry of Health would honour its promise to construct classrooms for the institution this year. She said six years before starting as a certificate awarding institution, a pilot programme was run for the medical staff in the country. The first batch of 34 students would pass out in July/August this year. The medium and long term plan of the school is to be affiliated to either the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology or the Catholic University College of Ghana, Fiapre, to run diploma and degree programmes. Rev Sister Apedzi noted that the establishment of the school "is very significant" in the health delivery system of the country. She stressed that physiotherapy contributed to make every individual's health complete, adding, economically it helped in producing and maintaining healthy people to boost production to impact positively on the economy. The St John of God Catholic Hospital, under the Goaso Diocese of the Catholic Church was established in 1951 by the then Kumasi Catholic Diocese, now Archdiocese of Kumasi as a Dressing Station. It became a Maternity Home in 1953 and a Hospital in 1955. Source: GNA