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The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection on Wednesday said it was collaborating with the Ghana Health Services to provide sign language interpreters at the various public hospitals across the country. Nana Oye Lithur, the sector Minister said the measures would ensure that health professionals understand and treat the deaf and dumb, and other persons with disability. The Gender Minister stated this during an interaction with officials from the House of Grace School for the Deaf at the Ministry. She said the collaboration is also to introduce sign language in the Medical and Health institutions curriculum in the country and that this would start in Accra as a pilot programme and later extended to all institutions across the country. Nana Oye Lithur said the Ministry has met with the Ghana Federation for Disabled and agree that health professional needs some basic communication skills to understand the language of the deaf for their treatment. She pledged to work with all agencies and institutions under the Ministry to ensure gender balance, rights of children and socially protect the disabled and the physically challenged in the country as they have the right to participate in every activity irrespective of their status. Nana Oye Lithur acknowledged an appeal by the House of Grace School and pledged the Ministry�s support to help the school acquire some facilities and also reduce the challenges they were facing, adding, �We will try our best to support the school.� Mrs Hanna Boateng, Head Mistress of the School said the school was established with the vision of providing quality education to the deaf children of Ghana through the use of sign language. She said Government seeks to create a better future for deaf children and to build their capacity for employment as equal members of the society in the country. She said the school is non-profit and non-residential and that from October 2008, the population of the school had increased from two to 48 pupils at various levels in the basic education system. Mrs Boateng said the school follows the Ghana Education Service recommended curriculum for primary and basic education and uses sign language in teaching the pupils, adding that, �All the teachers in the school are also deaf, which inspires the children.� She said the school mainly depends on contributions from individuals and organisations and also works in co-operation with several training institutions in Finland who send students over for internship and practice. Mrs Boateng appealed to the Minister to assist the school to build more classrooms and acquire a bus, and also appealed to corporate bodies to adopt the children in the school.