The Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwifery (CCNM), has stated that, they cannot vouch for the innocence of nurses accused in a baby expose, adding that they are sceptical about the true identities of the nurses with regards to their professionalism.
The Coalition in a statement said that, it was unsure if these nurses attained the standard professional training from a Nursing Training College to become nurses or they were facility based trained nurses since they work in a private facility.
As a result, the CCNM has called for a probe into the professional background of nurses identified in the baby harvester’s exposé.
The coalition’s call comes on the back of investigations by the Medical and Dental Council and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), which led to the arrest of some doctors, nurses, and social workers in the illegal act of ‘baby harvesting’ and human trafficking.
A joint statement revealed that the investigations were carried into the illegal activities between the periods of June to November 2020.
As a result of these investigations, two medical doctors, two social workers, four nurses, two mothers, and one traditional birth attendant have been arrested so far and are on bail pending further investigations.
But the CCNM believes for the above-mentioned reasons, the Nurses and Midwifery Council (N&MC) must independently investigate the matter to ascertain whether the indicted persons are professional nurses or health aids. And appropriate sanctions meted out if they are found to be professionally trained nurses and guilty.
In statement also, the CCNM indicated that, most private health facilities do not have the luxury to employ professional nurses, but rather find comfort in employing people and training them in the rudiments of vital signs and few other things to qualify them as nurses in the eyes of the public.
“These are not professional nurses. They are called Health Aids who assist the doctors and the professional nurses. These health aids are not even limited to private health facilities but are in the public hospitals as well. Ironically, the public classifies most workers in hospitals as nurses when in the actual fact, it isn’t so.
“It is therefore highly possible that these nurses indicted in this exposé may not be professional nurses under the jurisdiction of the Nurses and Midwifery Council of Ghana (N&MC) which is the professional body regulating nurses and midwives in their practice.”
The coalition then called on the nursing associations, namely the GRNMA and UPNM-G to also investigate the matter to its logical conclusions and recommend sanctions if any professional nurse is found guilty or redeem the image of nurses if the indicted persons are not professional nurses.
CCNM however applauded the MDC and the EOCO for “the great work done in this regard.”
Per the expose the team of traffickers operated in hospitals in Accra. The expose then revealed that, mothers were told by these health workers that, their newborn babies had died after birth, with their children then sold for profit.
