Accra Psychiatric Hospital Rejects New Patients

The outpatient department of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital

The ongoing strike by unpaid psychiatric nurses is having grave implications on mental healthcare delivery as the Accra Psychiatric Hospital has been forced to stop admitting new patients who need psychiatric attention.

The hospital has come under pressure taking care of in-patients, with the few nurses on duty being forced to work long hours and double shifts for the past days.

A poster on one of the doors of the wards indicated that no admission will be taken till the striking nurses return to work.

Emmanuel Pappoe, Deputy Director of Nursing Service who confirmed the hospital's decision, said nurses at the hospital could no longer bear the stress of taking care of in-patients, let alone new patients being referred to the facility.

He said the hospital could not allow additional stress on the nurses who work at the risk of their lives by adding new patients who are mostly aggressive to the already high number of in-patients.

'A ward which is supposed to have five nurses now has only one nurse taking care of about 20 to 30 patients which is not good for proper healthcare delivery and the nurses' safety,' he said.

A group of unpaid psychiatric nurses last week embarked on an indefinite strike to demand payment of their salaries.

The nurses, numbering about 180, said until government pays all the four to eleven months salary arrears owed them, they will not go back to work.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Baba Jamal, indicated that the salary arrears of the psychiatric nurses would be imputed on the IPPD system as soon as possible for them to be paid.

He called on the nurses, who, according to him, are on an illegal strike to call off the strike and return to work or forfeit their October salaries as government will not countenance any disregard for both the Labour Law and government as employer.

'It must be noted that all nurses who fail to work for the month of October following the strike action will not be paid for the month of October 2015.

Government hereby appeals to all nurses on strike to go back to work immediately, in order to restore industrial harmony within the health sector,' the statement pointed out.

However, Christian Adisenu, one of the spokespersons for the nurses, said the group is not perturbed by the threats of the deputy minister, adding that their decision will not change till their money reflects in their accounts.

'We heard that government is paying our money but this is not the first time such a thing has happened so until we see our money we are not going back,' he said.

In a related development, the strike action by some 7,000 unpaid nurses and midwives in the country has entered into its second day.

Although the first day of the strike did not see much participation from members, the strike is beginning to gather momentum amidst threats from hospital management.

The nurses like the psychiatric nurses said they have used all available means to get government to pay their salaries but all they get in return is failed promises.

Government has also promised to pay the nurses and midwives by the end of the month but they have also resolved not to return to work till their salaries are paid.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri