Stop training certificate nurses — GRNA
The Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) has registered its displeasure at what it said was the alarming rate at which substandard nurses were being churned out in the country.
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According to the GRNA, the training of certificate nurses some years ago was only supposed to be a stop-gap measure to curb the shortage of nurses in the system.
The association said now that the exercise had achieved its aim, there was no need to continue with it.
Ten-point communique
The GRNA registered its displeasure in a 10-point communique issued at the end of its extraordinary National Executive Council meeting in Accra yesterday.
Later at a press conference in Accra to present the communique to the media, the President of the GRNA, Mr Kwaku Asante-Krobea, said it was the view of the association that the certificate holders in the system should be retrained to enable them to acquire higher competencies.
“As nursing and midwifery services progress in keeping with the demands of clients, we reiterate our call on the Ministry of Health to de-emphasise the training of lower cadres of nurses and midwives,” the communique said.
It also called for the upgrading of training programmes to make for enhanced quality care for patients, pointing out that “the patient is safer in the hands of a highly-educated nurse and midwife”.
The communique asked for a review of the abolition of trainee allowance, contending that the trainees now needed the allowances more than ever before, as their training programme had become more demanding.
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Another concern raised by the communiqué was the suspension of the payment of conversion difference to nurses under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
It said explanations by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) for the withdrawal of the component were neither convincing nor justified.
The communique, therefore, demanded its restoration to avert any labour agitation in the near future.
Market premium
The communique said the issuance of a government White Paper on the payment of market premium to public sector workers was a threat to the welfare of nurses, adding that it would cause a reduction in the value of the market premium.
It contended that by the government’s position, it was not clear what the way forward was as the government was the sole determinant of what was to be paid to those who deserved it.
On the unpaid incremental credits on the SSSS, the association said it was disheartening to note that since the introduction of the SSSS, no member of the association had earned any incremental credits.
Commenting on the threat to freeze public sector salary increment for 2014, the association said it found it rather untenable, submitting that it would worsen the plight of the ordinary worker considering the worsening socio-economic conditions in the country.
“We hold that the penchant of the government to withdraw inducement allowances of public sector workers is a disincentive to the workers and counter-productive to quality healthcare delivery,” the association added.
The association also registered its displeasure at the wanton destruction of lands and water bodies through illegal gold mining, saying that there was a thin line between health and environment.
It expressed its readiness to help in the reclamation of lands by illegal miners.
writer's email-rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh