About 5,000 unemployed nurses and midwives from across the country are assembling this morning at the Flagstaff House in Accra to demand why the government has failed to employ them two years after their training.
As at 8:00 am Monday morning, some of them had started arriving at the seat of government where they have vowed to remain to pressure government until they are either given a firm commitment of employment or employed into service.
The group, made up of psychiatric nurses, enrolled nurses, midwives, general nurses and community nurses, completed their training in 2013 and 2014at the various state-run health training institutions but have since been neglected by the Ministry of Health.
Operating under the banner: Coalition of Unemployed Nurses and Midwives, the group said although members have been bonded for between 3 to 5 years by the Ministry, it has failed to employ them into government health facilities,
According to them, said bond has become an albatross on their neck, saying:"This bond is now an obstacle that denies us credibility to be employed by most private institutions and even travel outside in pursuant of job among others".
They claim the Health Ministry and the Mental Health Authority has consistently failed to see through their promises to them, noting there appears to be no sign of commitment on the part of government in resolving their grievances hence their latest action to picket at the Presidency.
A spokesperson for the group, Nicholas Mensah Otoo, told tv3network.com monday morning that they have informed the Presidency about the picketing in a letter they delivered on Friday, October 16. He said they are yet to get a response, nonetheless, they will go ahead with the picketing this morning.
They group wondered whether it is a "misfortune to undergo a nursing/midwife training or it is a recursion of administrative incompetence and negligence" on the part of the government
"The quality of Health services in Ghana quakes yet qualified and certified Health professionals who completed training in 2013 and 2014 respectively have been neglected to deteriorate with their invaluable knowledge and skills," the group said in the statement.
The group said it was discontent with the Health Ministry's handling of their case to the extent that they have "built resistance to the relentless but erroneous reassurances from the Ministry after several follow ups by the leadership".
According to the group, it on August 17 and 18, and again on September 14, picketed at the Ministry of Health at which occasion assurances were given with the last being that they would be given employment to start work within two weeks from September 14, 2015.
It said the Ministry has failed to fulfill all the promises, noting "several follow ups have been made to communicate the frustrations of these unemployed nurses and midwives to government but yielded no positive result but same reassurances".
It expressed regrets about the failure of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association to intervene in the matter.
The group ended the statement with a quote from Abraham Lincoln which said; “You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time”.
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