<<Print>>

The Accra Psychiatric Hospital has received a sum of GHc300,000, and GHC 120,000 worth of drugs and other consumables after nurses embarked on strike over poor working conditions and the lack of basic needs.

The Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, revealed this to Citi News on Thursday. Nurses at the facility have been on strike since Monday, over poor working conditions they are forced to work under.

They complained that work at the facility poses serious risk to them. The nurses also complained that, the lack of some logistics and materials at the hospital , makes it difficult for them to discharge their duties effectively, hence their decision to lay down their tools. 

But the National Labour Commission on Wednesday, ordered the nurses to return to work, and asked government to provide the facility the needed logistics and funds.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Segbefia said additional provisions would be made to the hospital by the end of the week. “We have made some funding available with more to follow by the end of the week, we’ve also made pharmaceuticals available with more to follow and we are on top of the issue currently. We gave a cheque of GHc300, 000 yesterday [Wednesday], but we have gone out ourselves and bought drugs to the tune of about GHc120, 000.”

“We’ve also given some foodstuffs because even though people donated food, there was a lack of protein, so we were able to give a one month consignment of frozen fish which was collected first thing yesterday [Wednesday] morning, so both on the food side, the pharmaceuticals side and the consumables which we are dealing with today [Thursday], all things should be back to normal to cover them till at least the budget is read again till February,” he added.