The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has called on the government to dismiss the Ashanti Regional Director for the National Service Scheme (NSS), Mr. Alex Opoku Mensah, for verbally attacking a nurse at the Manhyia District Hospital.
This comes after Mr. Opoku Mensah is said to have stormed the Manhyia District Hospital to insult a nurse for allegedly intimidating his daughter who is a House Officer at the facility.
The association noted that Mr. Mensah had no right to enter Manhyia District Hospital to verbally abuse and threaten the nurse in question who was on duty at the time.
A statement issued today November 29, from the association indicated that Nurses in the facility will lay down their tools if government fails to sack Mr. Opoku Mensah from his position and that will be followed by Nurses in the Ashanti Region.
“The association has therefore given the government 72 hours momentum to sack Mr. Mensah or all nurses and midwives at the Manhyia house hospital will lay down their tools to be followed by the whole of Ashanti, and then it will be escalated to the whole nation”
GRNMA
Apart from sacking Mr. Opoku Mensah, they also called on the Management of the Mahyia District hospital to educate the House Officer on her role as a member of the Medical Team and the need for her not to feel intimidated by Nurses who advocate for patients.
The statement further called for calm among Nurses in the facility indicating that they will ensure that their interest is protected. It also asked the Ashanti regional branch of the association to report the incident to the police immediately and report the same to GRNMA Headquarters.
Incident At The Hospital
In an audio recording which emanated from the hospital, a male voice is heard raining insults on a nurse. The voice was identified as the regional director of NSS, Mr. Alex Poku Mensah who also happens to be the father of the House Officer who had a misunderstanding with the nurse.
The nurse is said to have called the House Officer to come to the hospital and log into the E-health system and update the patient’s prescription order so that the patient is not billed for unissued drugs but this did not go down well with the house officer and her father.
Speaking in an interview, the Ashanti Regional Vice Chairman of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, Philemon Adu Brempong, inisted that they have given the government 3 days to sack the appointee else the government would not like their next action.
Mr Adu Brempong disclosed that the NSS Regional Director is not fit for the Director position he holds in the Public Service. He described the medical officer’s behaviour as unfortunate and called on the management of the Manhyia Hospital to educate her on the role of nurses at the facility.
He added that following the abuse of the nurse, the association is set to take legal action against Alex Opoku Mensah.
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