Registered Nurses renew commitment for healthy society
Mrs Alice Darkoa Asare-Allotey, the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) president, has reiterated the association’s commitment to ensure a health delivery system which is in the supreme interest of all Ghanaians.
She said health delivery is a shared responsibility among the various stakeholders but we pledge to continue to provide skills and expertise to prevent illness, restore health care and help promote the patient’s well-being.
Mrs Asare-Allotey said it was unfortunate to experience the recent industrial crisis in the health sector due to the migration of health professionals unto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and called for a proactive engagement among stakeholders to forestall sanity in the health sector.
She said the tenets of proactive engagement entreated all factors of labour to explore open and transparent communication built on trust and the recognition of the role of each other.
Mrs Asare-Allotey said she was unhappy that “in a country where over 50 percent of all non-communicable diseases are a result of poor lifestyle choices which are all preventable, health professionals are often entangled in prolonged negotiations for better condition of services adding that this was unfortunate as every second of the health professional’s time during duty hours must be to the benefit of a patient”.
She said under the present SSSS, most nurses and midwives exit at the principal nursing or midwifery grade whilst the entry point of a Doctor is the medical Officer.
She said it takes the degree nurse 10 years having performed successfully to be promoted to the principal nursing grade whiles it takes the diploma nurse or physician assistant takes 18 years to be promoted to the principal grade.
“But for a medical officer it takes only two years serving as a house officer one and two (internship) after qualification to enter the medical officer grade, which is at par with a principal nursing officer,…. this is unfair and unacceptable,” she said.
Mrs Asare-Allotey said “no matter the perspective with which one views the condition, the Nurse/Midwife is central to all aspects of health management.
Source: GNA