It is no news that when new nurses are posted, they work for several months without salary. This has been the situation for years. What is even worse is, nurses having to sit in the house for years before being posted. Once you are posted, then you now have to struggle to get your salary.

Many nurses and midwives have to resort to loans and the benevolence of family members and friends for their upkeep until their salaries are finally paid. In some situations, nurses are posted to different regions far from where they live. For such individuals, moving to a new place with no hope of receiving their salary early makes life difficult considering the cost of moving, accommodation, transportation, and daily living expenses.

Under the normal process of processing salary for new nurses and midwives, when postings are done and staff report on duty, the facility reports their assumption of duty to the relevant agency i.e., Ghana Health Service or Mental Health Authority. Once assumption of duty is reported, the staff will receive their appointment letter. Staff then fill IPPD forms which are submitted together with “Clearance” letter from the Ministry to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department for processing.

So why do salaries delay? From the information gathered, a lot of issues cause the delay in salary for new nurses. For one reason, when new staff is given appointment letters until clearance is received from the Ministry, the IPPD forms cannot be sent to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department for processing of salaries. Also, when The IPPD forms are finally sent to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, that is another story. In some instances, HR personnel at the facility may not expedite the process for various reasons which may cause the delay in salary.

So, if you’re a new nurse or midwife and you have not been paid for months, try to find out with the information above.