82 bonded nurses demand employment

The Unposted General Nurses of the Holy Family Nurses Training College in Nkawkaw in the Eastern region have called on government to recruit them into the health sector, as they have become a burden on their parents after their national service.

The nurses said the Ministry of Health mistakenly classified their school, Holy Family Nurses Training College, as a private school and, therefore, left them out of the recruitment process for July 2016.

In a petition to the Minister of Health Alex Segbefia, the nurses numbering 82, noted that their colleagues from other schools have gained financial clearance, have been posted and have started working while numerous visits to the Ministry of Health and Finance to have them cleared and posted have proved futile.

They have, therefore, appealed to the Finance and Health Ministries to give them the financial clearance they need so as to get them absorbed into the health sector.

Read full petition below:

UNPOSTED REGISTERED GENERAL NURSES OF HOLY FAMILY NURSES TRAINING COLLEGE, NKAWKAW

TO THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF HEALTH, MR ALEX SEGBEFIA

20TH JULY 2016

Honourable Minister, the group is made up of eighty-two (82) Bonded Registered General Nurses. We have successfully completed our nursing training course in March 2014 and August 2014 and have completed our national service in August 2015 and March 2016, respectively. Per the terms of the bond we signed, we were supposed to be posted immediately after completion of school, which has not been the case as stated in the bond we signed.

Honourable Minister, the group is unhappy about how we were left out in the 2016 recruitment of bonded nurses. Our school, Holy Family Nurses Training College, Nkawkaw, was left out in the recent financial clearance that was released. Our preliminary and subsequent follow-ups to the aforementioned body left us in doubt that our alma mater was erroneously classified as a private institution, hence the deletion of our names. As nurses, who are trained in serving our nation, we find it deeply worrying that an avoidable error was made.

Honourable Minister, it should be noted that our colleagues from other schools gained financial clearance, have been posted and started working. So far, our numerous visits to the ministry of health and finance have not yielded any positive outcome.

Honourable Minister, the group is demanding the following:

An immediate financial clearance to be released and that the financial clearances be pasted at the Regional directorate for onward recruitment.

Immediate postings of all members in July 2016 without any delay since our colleagues in the same category have been cleared and posted.

The group believes that as a listening Minister, you will listen to our plea and ensure that our demands are met. We believe in your message, “Changing lives” and that our lives deserve to be changed.

Honourable Minister, it will interest you to know that our monthly allowance that we were depending on ceased immediately after national service. As of now, we are unable to meet the demands of our daily upkeep and have become burdens to our parents.

Honourable Minister, we are only crying for survival, our families need our support, our patients need our services and our motherland Ghana needs our services.

We have the skills to work, we want to work and we must be given the opportunity as bonded unposted nurses from Holy Family Nurses Training College.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you.
CC:
The Minister of Finance, Ghana
Eastern Regional Minister
Controller And Accountant General Department
Nursing And Midwifery Council
Christian Health Association Ghana
Ghana Registered Nurses And Midwives Association
Ghana Nursing And Midwifery Trainees Association
The Bishop Koforidua Diocese
The Principal, Holy Family Nurses Training College, Nkawkaw