National Service Nurses On Strike

A section of the striking national service nurses

Some graduate nurses rendering national service at the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga have declared an indefinite strike action over unpaid service allowances.

The nurses numbering close to 150 said since they were engaged some seven months ago, they had not been paid their national service allowance, even though they had been working on a daily basis at the various departments.

It is expected that other national service nurses in other districts in the Upper East Region will soon join since their situation is the same as that of the nurses at the Regional Hospital – the biggest referral hospital in the Upper East Region.

According to the nurses, the painful side of their situation is that the Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC) does not seem to care about their plight and therefore it does not surprise them at all that the NMC is quiet over the non-payment of their allowances and the cruel treatment from some “In-charges” – referring to senior nurses at the Regional Hospital.

They said even when they had not been paid their allowances, they were compelled to pay an amount of GH¢70.00 for their biometric registration to get their names unto the Controller and Accountant General Payroll and yet the NMC did not intervene.

“The NMC is not behaving like a mother association for all nurses. In our case, they seem not to care about us . . . If you are sick or you happen to get injured on duty and you don’t have health insurance, you will pay for the treatment . . .” they added.

They have threatened to be on strike till government through the National Service Scheme pays their allowances.

“We have completed college and our parents expected us to be independent by now, but we still call home for money for our upkeep. So what will happen to those whose parents do not have money to give them to support themselves. It is a painful situation and many of our colleagues are in an embarrassing condition,” a nurse stressed.

FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga