The president of the republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo- Addo in his third (3rd) State of the Nation’s Address, made claims that some nurses have been posted and even started work from February 1, 2019. This according to the Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives (CCNM) is untrue.
The group therefore have released a press statement to the claims made by the president:
CCNM SETS THE RECORDS STRAIGHT ON NURSE/MIDWIVES EMPLOYMENT IN GHANA – A FALLOUT OF SONA 2019.
The Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives has observed with keen interest the delivery of the third (3rd) State of the Nation’s Address by the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo- Addo on the 21st of February, 2019. We bring warmest greetings but worrying a mood to all respected citizens of Ghana. Touching on various sectors of the country’s economy, the first gentleman of the land made pronouncements with regards to the recruitment of health professionals and, as citizens and not spectators, we wish to set the record straight on the *true state of Nurses and Midwives employment in Ghana. *
While we acknowledge his efforts in tirelessly building our nation and having the nursing and midwifery profession at heart, evidenced in his utterances, we have few issues to talk about.
The President made a statement which read in part *”… the nurse assistants that have been employed belong to the tranche that passed their exams in 2016 from government Health Training Institutions and have commenced work by 1st February, 2019…”* We wish to state categorically and emphatically, without any fear of contradiction that not a single Nurse Assistant was posted in 2018 and not even a single Nurse /Midwife has started work as at February 1, 2019 till date hence, we are persuaded that the President was misinformed about this. The only group of nurses and midwives that were employed in 2017 by this government is the diploma group that graduated in 2015 and did their service in 2016.
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We want to believe that the President and the relevant stakeholders were economical with the truth!
Not even the several press releases, demonstration and picketing were enough to convince the government to recruit these qualified and ready-to serve professionals so they can contribute their quota to the development of Ghana.
Currently, the group that graduated from the Nurse Assistant Clinical and Preventive course in 2016 are wasting away while their skills rust and decay for staying home for the past three (3) years considering how practical the Science and Art of Nursing and Midwifery are.
Also, one of the pillars of quality of healthcare is qualified competent healthcare professionals with the ideal nurse to patient ratio being three patients to one nurse (3:1), according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Discerning Ghanaians, for quality health care, more nurses need to be employed to reduce workload on the few nurses employed, hence everyone’s duty to call on government to employ all graduate government trained nurses as soon as possible since our health is our wealth. The juniors of the said NAC/NAP group have also completed school in November 2017 and 2018 and are also home without any hope of being employed anytime soon. Numbering over twenty-six thousand (26,000), they have virtually become depressed.
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Another category of nurses and midwives are the diploma group who left school August 2016 successfully and completed their compulsory National Service in 2017 are still in the house wasting away and being burdens to society. Their juniors who qualified in August 2017 and 2018 cannot see light at the end of the tunnel, since their seniors are not posted, there is little or no hope for them.
If immediate steps are not taken, the yawning and widening nurse/patient ratio which currently stands at 1:22 will worsen and the backlog of nurses and midwives will be difficult to deal with. The pressure on nurses and midwives on the wards, clinics, polyclinics is simply overwhelming since one has to do job meant for 6 or 8 nurses. This impacts negatively on our quest to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs)
We wish to inform Mr. President that he was misinformed and immediate steps should be taken to ameliorate the suffering of our junior colleagues. We wish to call our well-meaning Ghanaians, the men and women of the media, our parents and guardians to put positive pressure on the government to *POST NURSES AND MIDWIVES NOW*. This is not the matter of doing politics with the issues neither are we blowing it out of proportion. These are facts and facts are sacred! We ordinary Ghanaians stand to lose if our health system breakdown eventually.
God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.
-Signed-
SIBA SALISU
1st VICE PRESIDENT
0245848730
EMMANUEL GEYEVO
PRO
0541290668 / 0204199159
THEOPHILUS DOE
ASSIST PRO
0242276258
GIDEON ALALE
(Communication Team member)
0248944080
CCNM!
UNITED FOR A PURPOSE
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