Members of the Coalition of Unemployed Bonded Diploma Nurses on Monday, 24 April defied calls from the police and the Deputy Minister of Health Tina Mensah to go home and slept at the Ministry to demand immediate posting.
The group, which comprises psychiatric nurses, general nurses, and midwives, is angry over government’s failure to effect clearance for its members’ postings after the completion of their national service in August 2016.
They have accused the Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman-Manu, of acting in bad faith as his promise to get them cleared and posted has yielded no results.
Speaking to Class News, spokesperson for the group, Tina Mireku, said government had not given them any assurance of getting them employed but would remain resolute and continue sleeping at the Ministry until their demand for immediate posting is granted.
“The Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, has just come to tell us that we should go home so that in a week’s time she would have a meeting with the executives. But we are telling her we are not going to accept that because even the two-week ultimatum that the Minister himself gave us, he couldn’t fulfil it so how much more one week?” she quizzed.
“And even the one week, there is no assurance that we are going to get our clearance and get posted. She is saying that she wants to meet the executives in a week’s time, which doesn’t even come with any assurance. So we still go by our words that we are still demanding for immediate posting.”
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry, Robert Cudjoe, has appealed to the nurses to be patient as government continues with the processes to get them posted to health facilities across the country.
“We have started the recruitment exercises and some categories of nurses have been issued their appointment letters. Some have reported to their stations and have started work. It’s a process because it’s a huge number and about 11,000 have been cleared. We instructed the various heads of agencies to begin the recruitment process. We are looking at over 7000 health professionals but this category of nurses’ issue is also on the table and it’s being discussed, so at an appropriate time.”
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com
