The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has dismissed government's appeal to retired nurses and midwives to return to work temporarily amid the ongoing nationwide strike, insisting the proposal is neither practical nor sustainable.
Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh at a presser in Accra on Tuesday June 10 appealed to retired health workers to step in to ease pressure on the system, which has been severely impacted by the strike.
However, speaking in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Tuesday, June 10, GRNMA Vice President Samuel Alagkora Akologo has described the move as out of touch with the realities facing retired healthcare workers. "We just feel we are not being treated fairly," Akologo stated. "What he said - that they have asked retired nurses and midwives to come and support…They are battling with cardiovascular diseases, [metabolic] chemical diseases, which they are using their meagre pension money to take care of." He pointed out that the health and economic hardships of many retired nurses make it difficult for them to return to demanding clinical duties.
Most, he said, exited the service prematurely due to difficult conditions, and cannot be relied on as a long-term fix. "So to say you are calling on retired nurses to come and work - the solution to the problem is: we've made a proposal.
