TWENTY-TWO persons have successfully completed the pharmacy assistant training programme and will soon be posted to health centres across Region Two.

This latest batch of pharmacy assistants was recognised at a graduation ceremony held at the Jaigobin Hotel at Henrietta on Friday.

In his remarks, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony said that the Ministry of Health is implementing programmes aimed at building the human capacity in the health sector.

Dr Anthony emphasised that more health professionals will be needed, since several new hospitals are being constructed.

“By the end of next year and in 2025, we are hoping that the health care delivery will be further boosted in this region. We are doing similar ones (training programmes) across the country,” he said, adding that construction of the new hospitals have started and they should all be completed by 2025.

In addition to the massive infrastructural development in the health sector, the focus is also on encouraging specialised medical training. With regard to the latter, he said scholarships are being offered to encourage persons to become health professionals. Online studies are also available.

According to Dr. Anthony, the Ministry of Health is in need of a minimum of 3,000 persons to be trained as nurses.

“We want more persons to be trained in the health field, and we have many areas open for trainings in the health sector…we need bio-medical engineers and we are hoping to recruit more people… this training must be an ongoing process,” Dr Anthony said.

Speaking specifically about Region Two, he said that there are 32 health facilities but not enough persons trained to dispense medications to patients.

Dr Anthony emphasised the need for trained pharmacy assistants to be placed at these locations.

He said that the pharmacy assistants were given a stipend and were assured of jobs once they had completed the programme.

According to the minister, the ministry is paving a career path where persons can move on from being pharmacy assistants to another level. He said this can only happen if they have a desire to learn new things.

Meanwhile, Region Two Vice-Chairman Humace Oodit congratulated the graduates for their dedication to the programme.

Oodit said that the new addition of 22 pharmacy assistants will be a big boost to health care delivery in the region.

He said he is proud that despite the challenges, they all did well and were able to complete the programme.

According to Regional Health Officer Dr Ranjeev Singh, it was a historic day for Region Two since it was the first programme of its kind.

He said the trainees began the course on October, 31,2022.

“Region Two has produced 22 quality pharmacy assistants. They went through a rigorous programme, both theoretical and practical, so I am confident that they will serve this region well,” he added.

He reminded them to be humble and to treat patients with the greatest respect.

Delivering the charge to the graduates was Tiwari Ramkellwan.

He urged them to continue to study and to aim for higher heights.

Best graduating student Meesasha Ramdass said that the programme was interesting and that she had no regrets.

She obtained 11 As. With this perfect score, she graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

The first runner-up was Mark Fernandes, second runner-up was Kenisha Trim and the third was Zora Alphonso.