What is the fate of nurse assistants – Democratic Youth Alliance asks government

 

The health wing of Democratic Youth Alliance, Volta region, are alarmed with how the NPP led administration is treating the nurses and other health workers in the country.

The nursing profession has various categories of trainees which includes; general nursing, community health nursing, mental health nursing, and other certificates nurses.

However, the government in pursuit of its job creation have developed modules to recruit the nurses as well, whom hitherto would have been employed by the Ghana Health Service directly after their rotation or national service.

The recent module of employment for the trained professional nurses is the Nation Builders Corp, which seeks to employ graduates who are seeking for jobs desperately. With this program, the general and mental health nurses are been considered for a more of contract base employment, leaving out the community health nurses.

It is because of this that, the Democratic Youth Alliance – Volta in a release signed by Bismark Newton Haduvorsah, President is asking the President, Nana Akuffo Addo to tell them where he has placed Nursing Assistants (community health nurses and other certificate nurses) on this government’s job creation agenda. 

They stated that, “In the build up to the 2016 general election, you made a plethora of promises to us, the nursing fraternity. Notably among them are the restoration of Nursing Trainees' Allowance (NTA), without a quota system, giving us financial clearance to enable us secure permanent jobs, you told us your government will build more hospitals to absorb us. You also told some of our colleagues categorically on Krachi Nursing and Midwifery campus that your government will give us readily permanent jobs after our licensure exams. We leave your performance in the health sector for our parents to judge. As we speak, no trainee has received a pesewa from your government this year. Our parents sit home and think we are being paid. No! It's not true. Clearly your government have not been candid with us. The allowance is not coming, yet the quota system is fully back.

“Mr. President, with the introduction of the almighty NABCO (Nation builders' corps - heal Ghana), there have been several attempts by your government to paint a picture as if this is the ultimate solution to our plights as nurses. While we continue to question the legality backing, policy document and exit plan of this program, we have realized that it has no place for Nursing Assistants (Certificate nurses including community health nurses, environmental health nurses etc). This is because, one basic qualification for this program is NATIONAL SERVICE, which you know the Certificate nurses don't do. So clearly and technically, we have been excluded.”

Meanwhile, they have lamented that this was not what the government promised them during their campaigning in 2016. “We feel hoodwinked just for the purposes of helping you win an election.” 

“What baffles us the more is that, in an attempt by your government to distinguish NABCO from National Youth employment policy (NYEP), we are told NABCO is purely for graduates and NYEP is for non graduates. Mr. President, is that to say we, certificate nurses should go and apply under NYEP or we are just not recognized under your government? What is our fate under your government? We know, it will be a nightmare for us to think we would be given financial clearance that will enable us earn an approximated monthly salary of GHC1200 while our seniors, graduates, take an alleged GHC700 monthly which we know is phantasmagorical because they would be paid from DACF (District Assembly Common Fund). The question too is how often does the DACF come to our various districts?

“Finally, we want to use this opportunity to tell all Nurse Assistants who are questioning the integrity of this policy that, even the illegal policy they are fighting doesn't have any place whatsoever for them. In plain language, we have been deceived!”

The DYA group feels there is a discrimination against nurses has been deepened and consolidated by government of the day through the introduction of the NABCo program that is aimed at giving a substandard symptomatic treatment to unemployment in the country. “We have been declared technically unwanted. It's high time we interrogate and analyse promises made to us by sweet talking desperate politicians during their campaign periods.”