Yesterday, during a visit to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Mamprobi Polyclinic, the Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital, all in Accra, nurses on duty were seen attending to only emergency cases and in-patients.

The limited services being offered by the nurses constitute the second leg of a road map drawn by the national executive of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) towards achieving their objective.

Last week, the GRNMA gave the government and other stakeholders in the health sector an ultimatum to address issues confronting its members or face their wrath.

Concerns

The concerns of the nurses include unpaid allowances, salary arrears, promotion and unsafe working conditions.

They also called on the government to look again at nurses’ placement on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), as well as abide by an out-of-court settlement decision on the second-tier pension scheme, to ensure that the purpose for which the pension reforms were introduced was achieved.

The road map by the GRNMA said from November 1 to 6, 2016, members were to wear red armbands, from November 7 to  13.  They were to withdraw out-patient services and take care of only emergency and maternity cases, and then from November 14 onwards intensify the strike by withdrawing all services, except those to in-patients.

Observations

At the Mamprobi Polyclinic, patients who had reported at the OPD were left unattended to, as the nurses were not ready to admit new cases.

At the Ridge Hospital, patients were seen at the OPD but there were no nurses around.

At the Adabraka Polyclinic, the usual hustle and bustle seen at the place was absent.

Although nurses were at the OPD, they were only taking care of emergency cases.

At the Korle Bu Polyclinic, the Daily Graphic observed that the nurses were busily attending to patients, while nurses at the OPD of the KBTH Accident Unit attended to only in-patients and emergency cases.

Press statement

A press statement from the National President of the National Association of Registered Midwives, Ghana, Ms Ridwana Hawa Amoako-Agyei, pledged support for the road map of the GRNMA.

The association, however, appealed to its members to abide by the vow taken in January 2007 “not to embark on any industrial action that will affect our sisters who are expected to go through antenatal, supervised delivery, post-natal care and other obstetric gynaecological management”.