We need more hands, employ 2020 batch of Nurses – GRNMA to gov’t

The President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives' Association, Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, has called on government to employ the 2020 batch of Nurses who are currently at home to fill the gap created by their colleagues who have left the job to seek greener pastures abroad.

According to the President of the GRNMA, since the exodus of their colleague nurses to said greener pastures abroad, there has been pressure on nurses who have chosen to stay behind and serve the nation.

Speaking at the commissioning of a three-storey classroom block for the Nightingale Educational Complex which belongs to the Association at Komfo AnokyeTeaching Hospital (KATH) in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, the GRNMA president noted that the gap is huge and needs to be filled.

She explained: “There are a lot of gaps in terms of many of the specialised units where our specialist nurses were working. Some places like critical care unit, intensive care, emergency unit even on general wards. So it’s a bit difficult and the stress is on those who are currently at the facilities and working.”

She added: “We need more hands to do our work and, therefore, it is important that government employs the 2020 batch of nurses to come and support the work of our colleagues.”

On his part, the Otumfuo Hiahene, Nana Prof Oheneba Boachie-Adjei Woahene II, noted the country is losing nurses to the outside world, as it has become a training ground for foreign enterprises and institutions which should not be the case.

“There is no reason why nurses should not be posted a year or two after their training. They’ll become rusty while they are staying home so it is incumbent on the government the Ministry of Health, the finance ministry to make sure that there is funding available for nurses, all allied health professionals, medical scientists, and all the way up to doctors, because if we don’t take care, we’ll be training our professionals for other nations to enjoy their services," he cautioned.

He noted that if this is done, a time will come when all nurses and health professionals who have left the country to seek greener pastures will return to Ghana when allowances will be paid promptly and all challenges confronting nurses will be properly managed.