The Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) on Tuesday said “no matter the perspective with which one views the condition and operations at hospitals, the Nurse/Midwife is central to all aspects of health management, without him or her other operators are virtually handicap including the doctor.

The GRNA noted that in spite of these facts health delivery is a shared responsibility among the various stakeholders which no particular group or persons can claim to be the alpha and omega.

“Health delivery is a shared responsibility among the various stakeholders, its high time health operators especially medical doctors recognized, the complementarity of other stakeholders in the health delivery chain, irrespective of the challenges nurses pledged to continue to provide skills and expertise to prevent illness, restore health, care, counsel, advocate for patients to promote their health and wellbeing,” Mrs Alice Darkoa Asare-Allotey GRNA President stated in Accra.

The GRNA President described as unfortunate the recent industrial crisis in the health sector due to the migration of health professionals unto the single spine salary structure and called for proactive engagement among stakeholders to forestall sanity in the health sector.

She propounded that the tenets of proactive engagement entreats all factors of labour to explore to the fullest, open and transparent communication build on trust, recognition of the role of each player in the processes and reduce media warfare.

Mrs Asare-Allotey expressed disgust that: “in a country where over 50 percent of all non-communicable diseases are a result of poor lifestyle choices - drug use, alcohol and tobacco use, diet, lack of exercise or stress management, which are all preventable.

“Health professionals are often entangled in pro-long negations for better condition of services…this is unfortunate as every seconds of the health professionals time during duty hours must be to the benefit of a patient”.

She therefore advocated for policy direction aimed restoring sanity into the health sector stressing “we acknowledged that in every salary administration, there are over laps, the end point of someone may become the entry point for another but the management of the information across board is paramount”.

The GRNA President noted: “under the present SSSS, most nurses and midwives exit at the principal nursing or midwifery grade whilst the entry point of a Doctor is the medical officer. “It takes the degree nurse 10 years having performed successfully to be promoted to the principal nursing grade; the diploma nurse or physician assistant takes 18 years to be promoted to the principal grade.

“A medical officer takes only two years serving as a house officer one and two (internship) after qualification to enter the medical officer grade, which is at par with a principal nursing officer, this is unfair and unacceptable”.

She noted that; “no matter which perspective one views the condition, the Nurse/Midwife is the center towards which all aspect of health management gravitates.

“The competency and attitude of the staff if positive makes a huge difference in the restoration of health to appreciable levels even in the non - communicable diseases (NCDs). “Train, equip and motivate the Nurse /Midwife to manage NCDs, and disease burden reduced. Healthy to populations builds healthy Nation”.