On Tuesday, 25 April, a deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, George Oduro, provided food and water to famished jobless nurses who picketed the premises of the Ministry of Health over their posting.
On Monday, 24 April, the nurses defied calls from the police and Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, to go home, choosing to spend the night at the Ministry to press home their demands.
The group, which comprises psychiatric nurses, general nurses, and midwives, is angry over government’s failure to effect clearance for its members’ postings after the completion of their national service in August 2016.
Mr Oduro told the nurses: “You’ve been here since yesterday and at least you have to eat. And you have to go home and shower as well.”
“I don’t work at the Ministry of Health… I was passing by and heard you people have been here since yesterday so this is for your welfare,” the deputy minister added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has appealed to members of the Coalition of Unemployed Bonded Diploma Nurses to exercise restraint as it resolves matters relating to their postings.
According to the Public Relations Officer, Robert Cudjoe, there is a backlog of unemployed nurses, a situation the government was dealing with, hence the nurses will soon receive their postings.
Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yenosm on Tuesday April 25 Mr Cudjoe said: "There is the need to look at this situation dispassionately.”
“There was a huge backlog of unemployed nurses starting from 2013 that the government has been dealing with and so we are only appealing to these nurses to exercise patience as the ministry deals with the backlog.
“It will certainly get to their turn for them to be posted.”
He added: “I am appealing to the nurses who have gathered at the Ministry of Health to go home with the assurance that their concerns will be addressed.”
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