Nurses, midwives protest over unpaid salaries

 Dozens of nurses and midwives took to the streets to demand payment of their 10 months' salary arrears. 

Clad in red armbands and in their nursing and midwifery uniforms, the group, known as the coalition of unpaid nurses and midwives, Ghana, first converged on the Efua Sutherland Park around 9 a.m. and began their campaign for the payment of their salaries.

The protestors displayed placards with various inscriptions to draw attention to their plight.

They included, “Who cares for the caretaker”, “Pay us now”, “We are dying of hunger”, “We are nurses, not slaves”. “Enough is enough. We are Ghanaians, why are you exploiting us?”,

“We cannot survive on promises”, among others.

One of the nurses, who gave her name as Jaqueline, said the situation was hitting hard on their personal lives and nutrition.

“We cannot be advising patients to eat at least three times a day to stay healthy, yet we ourselves can’t even afford two square meals,” she said. 

Another nurse, who chose to remain anonymous, said, “We are tired, we voted for change, we didn’t vote to suffer.

“We have families, our mothers are dying. We have children, if they don’t pay us, how do they expect us to cater for our immediate needs?” she said.

The group of about 50 protestors, who represent 6,500 nurses and midwives, first presented a petition to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health. 

Petition

Reading excerpts of the petition, the Convenor of the coalition, Stephen Kwadwo Takyiah, said the government had reportedly delayed the payment on grounds of budgetary constraints and expiration of their financial clearance.

“Respectfully, it is unacceptable for duly recruited health professionals with official financial clearance to be lumped together with payroll irregularities.

We have supporting documents proving our clearance and recruitment before assumption of duty.

We, therefore, demand that,” he said. 

The coalition, he said, wanted the government to allocate budgetary provision to settle the accumulated salaries, a timeline to be communicated to them on when payment would begin and end and a transparent collaboration between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health to prevent the delay in future salaries.

Receiving the petition on behalf of the substantive minister, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, assured the protesting nurses and midwives that their nine-10 to ten months' unpaid salaries would be factored into the next budget.

The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, stated that his ministry would meet with the Ministry of Finance to resolve the issue.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic after presenting both petitions, Mr Takyiah said the group was not satisfied with either of the responses given by both the Deputy Minister of Finance and the Minister of Health.

He, therefore, disclosed that his group would sit with the remaining members of the coalition who could not attend the protest to decide on the next line of action.