As the nation bargains for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, the Ghana Nurse and Midwife Trainees' Association (GNMTA) has pleaded with the government not to eliminate the Trainee Nurse and Midwifery allowances.
The Association is the voice of all student nurses, midwives, and interns for the more than 80,000 student nurses and midwives dispersed across the 192 nursing training schools in the nation, according to a statement released by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA).
The National President, Pascal Adumbisa, issued a statement that was made available to the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani and asked the government to make it easier for the student nurses and midwives to get their allowances and pay their nine-month back pay. According to the statement, the Association is also seeking payment of four-month allowances, arrears, and certain students' outstanding 20-month debts for coursework finished in 2021.
"Since 2021, visits and phone calls to the Ministry of Health's office have failed to persuade them to pay these allowances. We are using this platform to express our regret that allowances for trainees have been suspended from June 2021 to the Ghanaian people, the government, and our parents and guardians, it stated.
"We demand the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Government's patience over the suspension in the payment as people who significantly contribute to the delivery of health services in our nation; trainee nurses and midwives have experienced several threats and hardships as a result of the payment of trainees' allowances since June 2021, according to the statement.
It regretted that the majority of parents and guardians who understood that the government was paying allowances to trainee nurses and midwives had also stopped paying fees and giving their kids and wards money for maintenance under the assumption that they received allowances from the government on a monthly basis.
"Without the allowances, one can only image what these student nurses and midwives have endured over the past eleven months. In reality, midwives, staff nurses, and nursing students all work the same shift in hospitals. The statement stated that midwives and trainee nurses are also subject to the same hazards.
According to the report, GRNMA data from 2015 found that roughly 40% of the country's healthcare workers were qualified nurses and midwives. The allowances were stated to be the government's way of showing thanks to aspiring midwives and nurses.
The statement stated that the association will counsel itself on the Government's inability to pay the allowances and arrears, but it also stated that the GNMTA would continue to seek remedy for member issues through discussion and non-violent ways.