Bolgatanga, Aug. 14, GNA-Mr Williams Sebil, the Principal of the Bolgatanga Nurses Training College (BNTC) in the Upper East Region says nurses and midwives on national service have not received their allowances for the past nine months.
He said the service personnel across the various health facilities in the Region had being working without any allowances, saying “These are young ones who have just come out of school virtually with nothing.
“For nine months, what will they eat to work? If they collapse on the job, whose fault will it be? Even if their allowances will delay at all, by one or two months, they should receive it,” the Principal said.
Mr Sebil, said this when he chaired the Regional launch of the International Nurses and Midwives week in Bolgatanga organised by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA).
The launch brought together members of the GRNMA across the Region to celebrate on the theme; “Nurses and Midwives, a voice to lead in a vision for transformed healthcare in post COVID-19 world.”
The Principal charged leadership of the GRNMA to intervene in the plight of the young nurses and midwives to be motivated and have the energy to contribute to healthcare delivery in the Region.
Mr Sebil entreated all nurses and midwives in the Region to work diligently to save lives in spite of the frustrations they might go through in their line of work and commended leadership of the GRNMA in the Region for its efforts at ensuring the welfare of members.
He stressed the need for them to continue to organize refresher training workshops for members to update their skills on the job.
“Again, the GRNMA, you are encouraged to also engage members of the public, sometimes they don’t know what we do as nurses and midwives. So once awhile we need to engage them to disabuse their minds, and give them hope so that our work will move on well.”
Mr Sebil also called for engagement and planning between stakeholders in the healthcare delivery system in the Region for nurses and midwives who had worked for the required number of years would be allowed to pursue other educational courses while at work.
He said the Clement Kubindiwo Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo was closer, and with proper planning, nurses and midwives could be allowed to pursue programmes to upgrade themselves as they continued to work.
This, he said would not affect service delivery if properly planned, and would motivate and encourage nurses and midwives to stay in the Region and contribute to healthcare delivery.
The Principal called on unions within nursing and midwifery professions to unite with the GRNMA for all nurses and midwives.
“Let’s go back to the GRNMA, which is the mother union. There is no need having any divergent views. Once we are divided it will be easy to penetrate. Let’s all make it a point to have a united force so that the system will help all of us,” Mr Sebil said.
GNA