Stakeholders involved in the training of health personnel across the country have pledged to improve the quality of graduates they send out to the job market in order to meet the health demands of the public.

They took the commitment at the weekend at the end of the first annual conference of Heads of Institutions involved in the training of health personnel.

Meeting in Yaounde for two days, the Directors of the various institutions agreed it was incumbent on them to harmonise and adopt an evaluation grid of practical certification exams which will put all candidates at the same level. For this to happen, they agreed on the revision of training curricula which has since been recommended by the Ministry of Higher Education.

The two-day conference which rounded off on Friday, June 26 took place in a context marked by the COVID-19 and it was an opportunity for the stakeholders to brainstorm on ways to train personnel to meet up with the new health challenges faced by the country.

They were taking the cue from the Minister of Public Health Dr Malachie Manaouda who stressed on the importance of health personnel in the current situation and how providing quality training is imperative.

Among other recommendations arrived at was the complete review of the training of midwives as well as the evaluation of semester results in the various institutions, transcripts and Masters degrees.

The head of theses institutions also resolved to reinforce the pedagogic capacities of teaching staff as well as organize regular visits to schools to evaluate the teaching model.

In order to improve on the legal framework governing the function of these institutions, a working group will be set up between the Prime Minister’s Office and concerned ministries to make proposals for amendment of decree No 80/198 of 9 June 1980 on the statuts of institutions involved in the training of health personnel.