By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Fiapre, (B/R), June 30, GNA – The Reverend Sister Franncilia Uchenna, a Teaching Assistant, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Catholic University of Ghana (CUG), has advised nurses and other health workers seeking greener pastures abroad to be cautious of rising activities of human trafficking syndicates.
She said human trafficking groups were everywhere, saying the syndicates now targeted nurses and health workers desperate to travel abroad for greener pastures.
They advertised “juicy” offers on the internet as bait to trap and traffic their unsuspecting victims abroad into commercial sex work, organ harvesting and other exploitative works.
She was speaking at a seminar the Department organised for the level 400 students of the University held at its main campus at Fiapre in the Sunyani West Municipality.
The seminar provided an opportunity for the level 400 Nursing and Midwifery students to highlight their project work for their academic qualification.
Contributing to the topic “human trafficking: a global health concern”, a project work being undertaken by a group of the level 400 students, Rev Sister Unchenna regretted that traffickers now harvested and sold the sensitive organs of their victims, saying everybody and nurses remain the target of the traffickers.
The nine-member group working on the project include, Beloved Adekoya, Alabi Oluwaseun Pamilerin, Pearl Ekwuruibe, Victor Oluwafolakunmi Kola-Ajobiewe, Lovelyn Maduka Kosisochuku, Evidence Ofotan, Perpetua Oloba Omolola, Rev Sister Pia Panpogee and Grace Pufaa.
Rev Sister Uchenna said trafficking for organ harvesting was alarming and a huge global concern.
She advised nurses and health workers to remain careful in order not to fall victims.
She said the role of nurses in helping to reintegrate rescued victims were also integral, and advised them to remain observant on duty, and build cordial relationships with patients.
That would enable victims who sought healthcare to freely open up to the nurses to analyze and assess the psychological condition and help in their re-integration into society.
The Rev Sister Panpogee, the leader of the group, also the Diocesan Coordinator for Missionary Childhood Association, Sisters of Mary Immaculate, Wa Diocese, Ghana, told the GNA they intended to serve as advocates to help fight human trafficking in the country.
Rev Panpogee also a Nurse at the St Theresa Hospital, Nandom in the Upper West Region mentioned unemployment, famine, poverty, political instability as some of the major causes of human trafficking and urged African governments to prioritize job creation to address the rising youth unemployment rate bedeviling the continent.
Rev Sister Oloba of the Sisters of St Louis, Nigeria, and a tutor at the St Louis School of Midwifery Kafanchan Diocese, and one of the students, expressed worry that ancient slave trade had resurfaced, and had been well modernized.
She said intensified public education and awareness creation were required to make the masses understand the dynamics and the modus operandi of the human trafficking syndicates.
That, Rev Sister Oloba said, would greatly help protect people from falling victims, and also help fight the menace.
GNA