Rotation nurses and midwives protest delayed allowance for 1 year

Imagine working for nearly a year without receiving a single cedi of the allowance owed to you.

That is the painful reality for over 20,000 rotational nurses and midwives in Ghana. With 5 lives already lost and 6 in critical conditions, they say enough is enough.

They are giving the authorities 14 working days ultimatum to act, or they will be forced to withdraw their services.

Frustrated, abandoned and pushed to the brink, that is the emotional state of thousands of rotational nurses and midwives across Ghana.

They have worked for nearly a year, many in tough and under-resourced conditions, yet they say the allowances they’re owed have still not been paid with repeated appeals to relevant authorities going unanswered.

The President of the Rotational Nurses and Midwives Association’s 2024/2025 cohort, Ebenezer Boateng gave more insight.

“We are engaging in online businesses, and we have to attend to our customers even as we are at the wards because that’s where our source of income comes from. That is where we make our living. Some of the guys engage in sports betting even at the ward. In April 2024, we recall that Hon. George Opare Addo, then NDC Youth Organizer issued a presser to condemn this act. So, when they came into office, we were expecting something better but all our engagements and efforts proved futile.

After 14 working days, if we don’t receive our financial clearance, we are laying down our tools, we are not going to the wards anymore. We will stay in the house together with our junior colleagues who have just been posted.”

Their cry is no longer about money, but about survival. Five of their colleagues have passed on with 6 in critical conditions reportedly due to the emotional and financial hardship.

The President for the Association’s 2023/2024 cohort, Amebley Kwame Junior says this neglect has persisted for years.

“This very issue didn’t start today, it’s been there for about 4 years now which we’ve been fighting against because it’s so disheartening to be working a whole year without your monthly allowance. We had assurances from the Ministry of Health during our time when we were fighting for this. They promised us that they will work on it swiftly, but some of my colleagues haven’t still received their allowance,” he said.

The situation is particularly dire for many female nurses, who say the financial hardship has pushed them into desperate situations.

“At times we have to borrow before we eat. We the ladies are really suffering. When a man proposes to you and you don’t like the person, you will have to accept it because you will get money to go to work. We are taking monies from people, borrowing, accepting proposals of which we don’t like but we are still doing it.” Mavis Akoto Acheampong, the General Secretary of the Association, said.

As the countdown begins, will the authorities act before more lives are lost or will silence continue to cost the nation its caregivers?

The post Rotation nurses and midwives protest delayed allowance for 1 year first appeared on 3News.

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