NAHSAG Petitions Health Minister To Recruit Allied Health Professionals

The National Secretariat of the National Health Students’ Association of Ghana (NAHSAG) has petitioned the Minister for Health, Hon Kwaku Agyemang Manu to recruit Allied Health Professionals immediately to help in the fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.

At a time where the country is faced with a disease that has virtually brought the whole world on its knees, the services of health officials are needed.

In line with that, a public announcement by the Ministry of Health on April 6, 2020, indicated the recruitment of 2017 private and public trained nurses and midwives.

To the surprise of NAHSAG, the Allied Health professionals under their umbrella that included Medical Laboratory Scientists, Disease Control Officers, Field Technicians, Health Promotion Officers, Health Information Officers, Health Records Officers, Nutrition Officers and many more have not been recruited till date.

They have therefore been shocked and continue to ask themselves whether the services they provide are no longer important in the Ghanaian health system or not.

In a petition to the Health Minister, NAHSAG Executives are asking for the situation to be remedied as they believe that in the midst of this pandemic, the role and contribution of the Allied health professionals are as important as that of the nurses and midwives.

“We believe that these other essential health workers are equally important and must be absorbed into the system to give these people who have been trained in this country to also contribute their quota to help to combat the COVID-19 pandemic”, the petition signed by President of the Group Moses N. Bondong said.

It adds, “We therefore ask that these health workers are recruited with immediate effect to enable them to render services to the good people of Ghana, especially in this difficult time”.

While giving the Health Ministry a few days to rectify the situation, NAHSAG say they will be left with no choice than to demonstrate after the lockdown is lifted if their grievances are not addressed.

“We hope that in the next few days, we shall receive the good news of processes facilitated to rectify all these anomalies to release our members of the unpleasant situations they find themselves.

“We shall, however, have no other choice than to speak in the language that politicians understand in times of difficulty faced by citizens; the language of a peaceful demonstration right after the lockdown ban is lifted in the major cities of Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, and Tamale”.

Read full statement below: