Government reacts to nurses’ strike
22nd September 2020
Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye, is urging nurses to return to post after they embarked on a nationwide strike over poor conditions of service.
According to him, the 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 for have been approved by the 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 service from the government and hopes the strike would send the message and trigger an immediate response.
Meanwhile, Dr Okoe-Boye said that the government has been receptive to nurses’ demands and is hopeful their conditions will be resolved within 48 hours.
He stated that the government has no intention of fighting the nurses on their demands saying that “you don’t fight a workgroup that is not happy.”
The Minister added that “what I am happy about is that the attitude of the government has been positive.”