Nurses in Accra will not go on strike but ...

Accra, July 14, GNA - Nurses in the Greater Accra Region on Wednesday said they would not go on strike but were only demanding their rightful entitlements.

Ms Emelia Cudjoe, Secretary of the Greater Accra Regional branch of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), who was explaining their position to the GNA after presenting a statement on the delay and discrepancies in the payment of their Additional Duty Hours Allowance (ADHA), said, "we are not contemplating on going on strike because if we do so it will affect us as well".

Ms Cudjoe, who was accompanied by the Public Relations Officer of the Association Ms Agnes Owusua, said, "they were only asking for their legitimate entitlements to be paid timely to them to motivate them to give of their best."

They said those of them who had not join the bandwagon to leave the country for greener pastures were still patriotic enough to serve their country despite the hardships.

The statement asked the Government to accept the recommendations of Technical Committee the Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service (MOH/GHS) set up to review the modalities and disbursement of the Additional Duty Hours Allowance (ADHA) and to issue a white paper on it to enable all categories of health workers to enjoy the approved hours allotted to them.

It said the implementation of the Committee's recommendations without any delay would reduce tension, which was mounting among Nurses in the Region.

The statement said Nurses had found the ADHA a disincentive considering the hours allotted to them compared to the other health professionals, who always enjoyed 200 hours irrespective of the number of hours they clocked and their staff strength.

It said: "The setting out of ceilings for institutions instead of the actual hours done should be reviewed and adequate fund be allotted to the institutions to enable them to pay the due ADHA as an incentive to motive the few nurses, who are patriotic to the State by not joining their colleagues in the brain drain."

The statement said there was agitation among Nurses in the Region and that the Executives might not be able to contain situation if the disparities in the disbursement of the ADHA were not properly implemented.

It said the proposed Rural Incentive for health professionals should be implemented without any further delay.