Angry Nursing students spend night in Accra

Students from the Dunkwa-On-Offin Nursing and Midwifery Training College are still at the Black Star Square despite pleas from officials of the Ministry of Health (MoH) to return to their college.

The students, who arrived in Accra on Monday to demand their allowances, slept on the benches and chairs at the Black Star Square despite assurance from officials that their grievances would be addressed.

The students appear not to be satisfied with the response of the officials at the ministry, who called for more time to address the problems.

According to them, government owes them two years’ allowance amounting to about GH¢12,000, which they claimed had affected their ability to pay their own tuition and clinical trials.

Cosmos Fredua Marthias, leader of the group, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE,mentioned that the students were yet to decide on what decision to take in view of the countless unfulfilled promises by the ministry.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of MoH, Tony Goodman, however, said the ministry had forwarded all the names submitted by the principals to the Ministry of Finance for payment to be effected.

He therefore asked them to go back to their college while the anomaly is being rectified.

Minister’s Assurance

The new Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, is reported to have visited the students on Monday evening to convince them to go back to school.

Mr Marthias confirmed that the Health Minister assured the students during his visit.

“He came to talk to us and explained that he just took over the leadership of the Ministry of Health and will work to make sure our problem is solved,” he said.

He said Mr Segbefia asked the students to give him a few days since key persons responsible for resolving their problems were at the ongoing World Health Organisation Summit in Geneva.

Demands

The petition they presented to the officials at the Human Resource Department of the MoH on Monday indicated that per the decision of government to pay all trainee nurses their allowances, the ministry is mandated to submit a list to the Ministry of Finance to issue financial clearance to the Controller and Accountant General to pay all trainees that have gone through biometric registration.