Nurse-Midwife Trainees’ Association demands payment of allowances and arrears
The Ghana Nurse and Midwife Trainees’ Association (GNMTA), has implored the Government not to abolish the Trainee Nurse and Midwifery allowances, as the country negotiates for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
The Association, according to a statement issued said it is an affiliate of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), and the mouthpiece of all trainee nurses, midwives and interns for the more than 80,000 trainee nurses and midwives spread across the 192 nursing training colleges in the country.
A copy of the statement signed by Pascal Adumbisa, the National President and made available to the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani, urged government to facilitate the payment of the allowances and the nine-month arrears of the trainee nurses and midwives undertaking their one-year mandatory National Service.
The Association is also demanding the payment of four-month allowances and arrears for students who completed in 2021 as well as the 20 months arrears of some of the students, the statement said.
“All efforts to get the Ministry of Health to pay these allowances have been fruitless upon meetings and calls to their outfit since 2021. We are, therefore, using this medium to bemoan to the Ghanaian populace, government, our parents and guardians to know exactly that allowances for trainees have come to a standstill since June 2021,” it said.
“We stand as citizens who contribute much to the health service delivery of this country to crave the indulgence of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Government about the halt in the payment of the trainees’ allowances since June 2021 which has posed a lot of menaces and hardships to trainee nurses and midwives”, the statement said.
It regretted that most parents and guardians appreciating that the Government was paying trainee nurses and midwives allowances had also stopped paying fees and giving their children and wards money for upkeep with the notion that they received allowances on a monthly basis from the Government.
“One can only imagine what these trainee nurses and midwives have been through for all these eleven months without the allowances. In fact, staff nurses, trainee nurses and midwives run the same shift at hospitals. Trainee nurses and midwives are liable to equal risks”, the statement indicated.
It said a research conducted by GRNMA in 2015 revealed that about 40 per cent of the nation’s healthcare forces were trained nurses and midwives, saying these allowances served as a form of appreciation by the government to trainee midwives and nurses.
The statement said the association would advise itself on failure of the Government to pay the allowances and arrears and added however that the GNMTA would continue to use dialogue and non-violent means in seeking redress for grievances of its members.
Source: GNA