Dr Malick Njie, secretary of state for Health and Social Welfare, on Monday, received in audience executive members of the Gambia College student's union. The students were representatives from the schools of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery.

This development came following the approval and subsequent increment of the monthly stipend of students in the schools of Education and Agriculture by the department of state for Basic and Secondary Education, early this year.

Speaking at the meeting, the Vice Principal of the College, Rex Kwei, told SoS Njie that the purpose of their visit was to make an appeal on behalf of the general student body, for consideration of possible increment of stipends of those in the schools of Nursing and Mid-wifery as well as Public Health.

This, he said, would mean that the said groups of students would receive the same level of stipend like their colleagues in the Schools of Education and Agriculture. He appealed to the Health secretary of state to consider the Health Schools, arguing that they were also faced with a lot of economic problems.

Musa H Camara, the President of the Gambia College Students' Union, delibrated on the plight of the students in the schools of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, who according to him, were struggling to cope with the meagre stipend despite the escalating economic problems.  He appealed to SoS Njie to help put their concerns into consideration as they were finding it difficult to cope with the economic situation, saying "since others have it, we should have it."

In response, the Health Secretary of State Malick Njie, clearly told the student leaders that the money given to his department by government was spent based on strict financial regulations, making it categorically clear that he had no space for increasing the stipend of students anywhere in the country. SoS Njie went on to say that even though his department benefits from the student expertise, the Health School does not belong to DoSH, but to the department of state for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology.  "It is therefore the responsibility of the Higher Education department to address such an issue", he observed.  SoS Njie however promised to write to the Department of Higher Education to see how best the situation could be resolved.

The delegation, which was led by Mr Rex Kwei, the vice principal of the College, included Madame Beatrice Haffner, head of the school of Nursing and Mid-wifery, Musa H Camara, the President of the Students' Union, among others.

The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary at the department of state for Health and Social Welfare, a representative from the Information Bureau of the College.