President of the Ghana Nurses, Midwives Trainees Association (GNMTA), Pascal Adumbisa, has called on government to pay the fourteen months unpaid allowances due members.
According to him, the national executives have tried to engage government and the health ministry on the matter to no avail. He revealed that the patience of the trainee nurses and midwives is something that must be appreciated under the current circumstances the country finds itself.
“Over a year now, we’ve not received allowance and as national executives, we try as much as possible to engage our stakeholders and the relevant persons, who as far as the allowance is concerned, should be contacted. All the engagements we’ve had, there’s not been any positive feedback as to when the allowances will be paid…”
Pascal Adumbisa
Mr Adumbisa indicated that due to the fact that trainee nurses and midwives are essential service providers within the healthcare delivery, there is the need for government to ensure their wellbeing and safety. He stated that government must begin to prioritize the needs of these trainees as a sign of commitment to its pledge.
“If we are saying that at hard times like this, we should place less priority on people who contribute much to the health delivery of this country, then it means that the future of this country should be shaking. Because these are people who risk their own lives, families and other persons to support this country.”
Patrick Adumbisa
Furthermore, Mr Adumbisa recounted that the erstwhile administration introduced the “clinical token” following research undertaken by the GNMTA mother union. He explained that the previous administration with this, sought to give the nurses a “tabletop” token of GH150, which the union rejected.
“Trainee nurses and midwives together with our mother union saw that it was nothing worth the work done by them. Unlike other professions where they can go on vacation and fend for themselves and are entitled to student loans, trainee nurses and midwives are not entitled to student loans and during vacation, they have to go to the health facilities…”
Patrick Adumbisa
Prioritize nurses and midwives
On his part, the international relations officer for the Association, Lenhoff Amponsah, expressed disappointment in the reluctance of government to pay arrears owed trainees. He emphasized that the association has given government enough time, as it’s been almost a year since government’s payment of allowances.
“At this time, we are suffering, the trainee nurses are suffering. We are saying that there’s no money, but the teacher trainees are being paid and that is our worry. This was a promise that was given to both trainee nurses and teacher trainees, so why is it that at this point in time government is saying they don’t have money?…”
Lenhoff Amponsah
Furthermore, Mr Amponsah lamented that nurses and midwives in the country are in a difficult place, coupled with the exorbitant fees they pay each semester -which is not less than GHC3, 000. He stated that during the last vacation, students spent just a week at home and resumed classes. This, he explained, is mounting financial pressure on trainees to cough up another GHC3,000 to pay.
“As we are talking now, I think for the teacher trainees, those that completed recently, they’ve all been paid. But when you take trainee nurses, when you take those who completed in 2020, government has an arrears of one month, those who completed in 2021, they also have an arrears of three months and those who just completed in 2022, they have an arrears of twelve months – whiles the teacher trainees, all their monies have been paid…”
Lenhoff Amponsah
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