Bonded unemployed nurses threaten to picket at Health Ministry, Wednesday

Aggrieved registered General nurses of the Holy Family Nurses Training College, Nkawkaw are threatening to picket at the Health Ministry in protest over delays in posting them to the various health institutions.

The nurses numbering about 82 completed the nursing training course in 2014 and were bonded throughout their national service with a promise to post them immediately after service.

However on completion of their service in March 2016, the Ministry has failed to post them despite posting other nurses from other training institutions.

The Nurses told Myjoyonline.com the Nurses and Midwifery Council, the institution charged with the mandate to provide the list of institutions whose students will be financially cleared mistakenly took the Training College out of the list.

One of the students who wants to remain anonymous said they had to prompt the Council for them to add the Holy Family Nurses Training College to the list after which they were promised to be posted in three weeks after the clearance.

It has been three months now and nothing positive has come from the Health Ministry.

"We sent a petition to them twice and didn't hear anything from them. We also went on a demonstration on August 10," one of the aggrieved nurses disclosed to Myjoyonline.com.

She said "we have still not heard anything from the Ministry. All our colleagues who completed other institutions started working in June. We are the only school which was left out and are home now.

"We have a signed a five year bond with the government of Ghana," she added.

But the Public Relations Officer of the Nurses and Midwifery Council Nana Boateng Agyemang in an interview with Myjoyonline.com denied claims that the Council omitted that name of Holy Family Training College from the list to the Finance Ministry.

He said the Finance Ministry is still working on the financial clearance for the affected nurses but cannot tell when the Ministry will be done with it.

The Public Relations Officer of the Health Ministry Tony Goodman also conceded the posting of the nurses has delayed but said the Finance Ministry is still working on the financial clearance for the nurses.

Even though he admits that the nurses to patient ratio is 1: 800, which calls for more nurses to be employed and posted to the various health institutions, he said the ministry has to look at the cost implications as well as other priorities which have to be catered for.

Commenting on the picketing, he said it is the right of the nurses to demonstrate but advised them not to put pressure on the ministry.

He assured the Ministry will soon give the affected nurses financial clearance but stopped shot of giving a timeline.

"I am not a politician to give a time line," he said

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah