Unemployed nurses threaten to demonstrate

A group calling itself Unemployed Registered Graduate Nurses have threatened to hit the streets if the government refuses to employ them.

The group in a statement signed by its regional chairman Hallidu Mustapha, said “the government has convincingly demonstrated its unwillingness to employ graduate nurses into the various healthcare facilities in Ghana to render evidence-based care”.

The group said efforts by the Ministry of Health to have its members employed have been “lackadaisical, uninspiring and daunting”.

According to them, government’s unwillingness to employ nurses had derailed the enthusiasm and confidence that registered graduate nurses and nursing students had.

“There are reports of many nursing students threatening to either abandon nursing for other professions or boycott the Nursing and Midwifery Council-regulated licensing examinations, a situation that is not good for the future of nursing in Ghana” the statement said.

The group has, therefore, warned of hitting the streets if attempts are not made to employ them but the group did not give a timeline for their action.

Below is the full statement:

UNEMPLOYED REGISTERED GRADUATE NURSES TO HIT THE STREETS

Nursing is one of the most versatile occupations within the health care workforce.

Nursing, because of its versatility, has been an enabling force for change in health care along many dimensions including but not limited to the evolution of the high-technology hospitals, length of hospital stay drastically reduced, improved patient safety and outcome, extending national primary care capacity, improving access to care for the poor and rural residents, and contributing to much needed care coordination for the chronically ill and frail. Indeed, with every passing decade, nursing has become a more integral part of health care services to the extent that a future without large numbers of nurses is impossible to envision.

Graduate nursing is the preferred choice for nursing employment everywhere in the world.

Regrettably, the government has convincingly demonstrated its unwillingness to employ Graduate Nurses into the various healthcare facilities in Ghana to render evidence-based care.

1. This unfortunate decision by the government of Ghana not to absorb graduate nurses into mainstream nursing has derailed the enthusiasm and confidence that registered graduate nurses and nursing students, hitherto, had in the BSc. Nursing Programme. There are reports of many nursing students threatening to either abandon nursing for other professions or boycott the Nursing and Midwifery Council-regulated licensing examinations, a situation that is not good for the future of nursing in Ghana.

2. The leadership of unemployed registered graduate nurses has been trying always to diplomatically engage the Ministry of Health to find an amicable solution to the debilitating unemployment situation. After our press release last month, we were tasked by the Ministry of Health to collate and submit a comprehensive data of both unemployed and employed graduate nurses in Ghana. The data was gathered and subsequently submitted to the ministry as requested. Since then several follow-up visits have been made to the ministry to ascertain the state of affairs and the level of work being done by the ministry to find a lasting solution to our unemployment situation.

3. However, none of those visits has yielded any desired outcome. Generally, the commitment on the part of the ministry has been lackadaisical, uninspiring, and daunting. Information gathered from the ministry indicates that the data that was submitted to the Health Ministry has not been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for financial clearance as earlier promised by the sector minister, Hon. Alex Segbefia. Despite these disappointing conducts by the Ministry of Health, unemployed registered graduate nurses have endured and continue to demonstrate willingness to work with the government using diplomatic and other conventional approaches to find a lasting solution to this current situation that we are having to face.

But the situation has reached a threshold where we are unable to bear any longer, the anger and agony of disappointment caused by the health ministry. We have exercised more than enough patience and calm.

4. We are by this release calling on the government of Ghana to, as a matter of national emergency, address the concerns of registered graduate nurses to conclusively draw this unemployment canker to an everlasting end and to rejuvenate the lost enthusiasm and confidence of our members.

5. We have initiated and completed processes for massive mass action in protest against the government's insubordinate actions to deliberately marginalise registered graduate nurses. National service/orientation graduate nurses, nursing students from over 14 universities, friends, families, and sympathisers are all ready to join us to embark on this holy course.

In conclusion, we call on the general public to join unemployed graduate nurses to demand accountability for their taxes from government by employing graduate nurses into the various healthcare institutions across the country to render the very care Ghanaians so deserve. We were not trained to sit idle; we were trained to serve our motherland Ghana. Employ us to serve Ghana!!!!

Long live the Nursing Profession!!!
Long live our Homeland Ghana!!!

Thank you.
Signed:

Hallidu Mustapha
(Ag. Regional Chairman)

Tamah Rasheed Salifu
(Ag. Regional Secretary)