Aggrieved Nurses Appeal To MOH

An appeal has been made to the Ministry of Health (MOH) to address certain perennial discrepancies in the nursing profession to enable patriotic ones to give of their optimum services for a better health care delivery in the country.

Making the appeal through the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi , an aggrieved and "neglected" group of nurses at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), who pleaded anonymity, said though the nursing profession had evolved into the mainstreaming of only State Registered Nursing.

The arrangement put in place to co-opt other ramification of nurses has been most unfair and unfavourable. The group, which was speaking for straight Midwives, said this had led to a total neglect, lack of recognition, low remuneration, stagnation of promotion and poor conditions of service, even though such group of nurses comprising, the Straight Midwives, Enrolled Nurses and Community Health Nurses, were rendering useful service in the remotest rural areas.

They said several appeals to rectify their salaries that were the basis for calculating the Extra Hour Duty Allowances had gone unheeded by the MOH, though they were more experienced and rendered even better services than the State Registered Nurses (SRNs). Besides, they had not left their jobs for greener pastures and had accepted to work in every village and hamlet "where SRNs would never go to work".

The group said most of them could not do the SRN course which was now the only option for recognition as a professional nurse because they had to go back to school and write the then GCE ordinary level which was used as the only entry requirement to be enlisted in the nursing training schools.

This option, they said could have been more favourable than just the strict "booklong" paperwork.