By Philip Tengzu
Wa, June 09, GNA – The Out-Patient’s Department (OPD) of the Wa Municipal Hospital, has been virtually deserted by patients following the ongoing nationwide strike by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA).
During a visit to the hospital’s OPD by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at about 1030 hours on Monday, it observed that there was no OPD service ongoing.
Only student nurses attached to that hospital were seen sitting at the OPD.
Speaking in an interview with the GNA, Mr Samson Abu, the Wa Municipal Hospital Administrator, observed that the strike action had affected service delivery at the facility.
He indicated that due to the public knowledge of the strike action by the GRNMA and its impact on service delivery, some patients had decided to resort to private health facilities for healthcare services.
Mr Abu observed that the situation was more worrying because members of other nurses’ associations at the hospital, who were not supposed to be on strike, were “secretly” joining GRNMA on the strike.
“The unfortunate thing or the observation we have had is that (some members of) the other unions are secretly joining (the strike), and they are claiming they are also members of the GRNMA. That is the worst part of it.
“We thought that once it was just one branch of the nursing fraternity that was going on strike, the others would stay back and hold the fort until the strike was called off. Unfortunately, that has not been the case,” he lamented.
Mr Abu, however, stated that some nurses, out of compassion and based on humanitarian grounds, were at the facility to serve.
He added that the leadership of the other nurses’ unions, including the Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives, Ghana (UPNMG), were also encouraging their members not to withdraw their services.
The Hospital Administrator expressed the hope that the students on attachment would support the few nurses at post to render healthcare services.
While appealing to the remaining nurses not to join the strike, Mr Abu appealed to the government to address the demands of the striking nurses to enable them to return to work to save lives.
Meanwhile, a visit to the Upper West Regional Hospital revealed that healthcare service delivery was smoothly ongoing.
During a visit to the Homeland Clinic, a private facility, the GNA also witnessed longer queues than usual at the OPD.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali and Lydia Kukua Asamoah