Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Vice-Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has announced plans to upgrade diploma-awarding Nursing and Midwifery Colleges across Ghana to degree-awarding institutions.

This initiative, under the leadership of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, aims to mirror the NPP government’s previous transformation of Teacher Training Colleges into degree-awarding institutions.

According to Dr Prempeh, popularly known as "Napo," this proposed upgrade will ensure that all trainee nurses and midwives graduate as degree-holding professionals.

He emphasised that this change would enhance their professional value and significantly improve their service conditions.

He made these remarks during an address to trainee nurses and midwives at the Komfo Anokye Nursing and Midwifery Training College in Kumasi’s Bantama Constituency on Monday, 2nd December 2024, as part of his campaign tour.

Dr Prempeh also assured the trainees of employment opportunities after completing their studies. He highlighted the government's flagship Agenda 111 hospital project, stating that all hospitals under this initiative would be completed by June next year.

These hospitals are expected to create over 70,000 job opportunities for nurses and midwives.

He cautioned against voting for John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), asserting that they would cancel trainee allowances, which the NPP government had restored.

He also claimed that the NDC would abandon ongoing Agenda 111 hospital projects, drawing parallels with their discontinuation of President Kufuor-led Eurojet hospitals in 2008.

“A John Mahama presidency will mean a second cancellation of your trainee allowance and a discontinuation of all the Agenda 111 hospitals we are building across the country."

"Their track record of halting NPP-initiated projects is well known, so we cannot afford to bring them back,” he warned.