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Tamale, Ghana – There are growing concerns among the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives’ Association (GRNMA) and some nurse educators over month-long unpaid internship allowances of hundreds of rotation nurses and midwives across the country.
For nine months continuously, hundreds of rotation nurses and midwives posted to various hospitals and other health facilities across the country for their internship programme have been refused payment of their monthly allowances despite several protest and petitions to the Ministry of Health.
The nonpayment of these allowances since April 2019 has compounded the financial situation of many of the nurses who are from poor background, thereby forcing some to resort to unnecessary borrowing and prostitution in order to survive. Whereas some have been evicted by their landlords owing to their inability to renew their rent others hide anytime they see their creditors coming to demand payment for items they bought on credit.
The latest news reaching Savannah News indicates that over 300 rotation nurses and midwives in the Upper East Region have embarked on strike and protest following the collapse of two of their colleagues on duty out of hunger.
The unknown nurse according to a DailyMailGh.Com publication reportedly collapsed at the Upper East Regional Hospital, The other nurse, a female – also fell unconscious at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital.
“There is a saying that a hungry nurse is a potential killer. One of us collapsed and when we resuscitated him, he said he wasn’t sick but collapsed because he had not eaten the whole day. There was no food in his stomach and he had to walk a long distance from Zuarungu to the regional hospital. Government hasn’t paid our national service allowances since April, this year, to date. And the process that will lead to the payment of these allowances – generation of staff ID and biometric verification – hasn’t commenced.
“The government is taking us for granted. This is deliberate disrespect and punishment from government. We can’t continue to go to work on empty stomachs. We are from various places across the country. We live in rented rooms and for nine months now our landlords have been on our heads. Some have been thrown out by landlords and are now perching with friends where you see four or five people in a single room” Emmanuel Dawani told the online news portal.
The Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Winfred Ofosu, has however assured the nurses and midwives interns will be paid this month and entreated them to return to work.
A GRNMA press statement issued at its National Council meeting on December 13, 2019 said it has “noted with concern, the plight of majority of nurses and midwives interns on National Service across the country who are faced with the predicament of non-payment of National Service allowance over a period of eight months attributed to avoidable bottlenecks in their biometric registration.
“We therefore request as a matter of urgency that the ministry of health and its agencies and the ministry of finance should address the matter and all other bottlenecks related to the internship of these nurses and midwives on National Service”, it said.
Aloysius Angliengmene, a senior nurse tutor at the Tamale Nursing and Mifery College told Savannah News he is concerned as a tutor. He believes he has done his best as a tutor to train young men and women to serve Ghana in her health facilities but the possibility of any of them committing an avoidable error leading to the death of any patient in their care worries him.
“Nursing is a competency based profession. When you are hungry, you cannot work effectively. This can impact negatively on their work. When you check on social media, you hear them say a hungry nurse is a potential killer. It doesn’t necessarily mean because they are hungry they will go and take a killing drug and inject a patient. But if you have not eaten just because you have not been paid for months, that could seriously affect your performance as professional at the work place.
“I’m surprised Ghanaians are quiet over this development. Everybody should be concerned, let’s sympathise with them. When you meet your MP let them know. When you go on social media, comment on the issue of rotation nurses and midwives not being paid. Call into radio discussions and speak up”, he suggested.
Head of Department of Nursing at the University for Development Studies, Dr. Michael Wombeogo also agreed that people who work should be paid to enable them fend for themselves.
“It is not psychologically sound. A lot of them will become frustrated particularly the females some of whom don’t have parents. They’re likely to do something otherwise to be able to live comfortable lives. Even if government cannot pay them everything they should be able to pay them in tranches”, he noted.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Philip Liebs
Good job, writer and all contributors