The President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, has bemoaned the high unemployment rate among trained nurses in the country.
Ofori-Ampofo said that most trained nurses are at home doing nothing because they are not being absorbed by the government, and the private sector is also afraid of employing them.
The president of GRNMA urged the nurses to upgrade themselves if they have the means to do so and leave the country for greener pastures as soon as an opportunity presents itself, 3newsroom.com reports.
“They try to get employment in the private sectors, but sometimes it is difficult for them because employers think that, when they employ such nurses and the government of Ghana gives them permanent employment, they will leave, so they block them off. It is only in some few cases that the private health facilities employ them, but the fact is that the majority of them are home doing nothing.
“The only thing we can do is advice our members, now there is opportunity abroad, and you need to go and top up your skills and work there so that you can earn money for yourself, then go there; or if you have support in this country from your family that you can upgrade yourself, go back to school and upgrade yourself, take advantage of this,” she recommended.
Also, Ofori-Ampofo warned that unemployed nurses are in danger of losing their skills if they sit at home doing nothing for a long time.
She, therefore, urged them to get busy in some profession, preferably through taking courses to upgrade themselves as they await employment opportunities.
File photo: Nurses