Nurses' demand will be resolved soon - Oko-Boye

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Oko-Boye is urging nurses to return to post after they embarked on a nationwide strike over poor conditions of service.

According to him, government has taken into consideration their concerns and has begun fulfilling some of them in the interim.

“It is not every item that has been approved. It takes negotiation over a period to get a final document that everybody is happy with.”

“What I am glad about is that some of the things they requested have been approved by government,” Dr Oko-Boye told JoyNews.

Nurses on Monday went on a strike over benefits such as rent and transportation allowances. As a result, scores of patients have been left stranded while others were referred to private health facilities for care.

At the country’s number one referral centre, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, patients who had been left unattended lamented the struggle they have had to endure.

The striking groups include the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Ghana Physicians Assistants Association and Ghana Association of Registered Anaesthetists among others.

The GRNMA is demanding better conditions of services from government and hopes the strike action would send the message and trigger an immediate response.

Meanwhile, Dr Oko-Boye said that government has been receptive to nurses’ demands and are hoping their conditions will be resolved within 48 hours.

He stated that government has no intentions of fighting the nurses on their demands saying that “you don’t fight a work group that is not happy.”

The Minister added that “what I am happy about is that the attitude of the government has been positive.”