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Registered General Nurses and Midwives in the Upper East Region say the ongoing strike by community health nurses across the country, is affecting healthcare delivery at various CHPS compounds and health centers in the region.

They are thus urging authorities to quickly resolve the issues to avert severe implications particularly for new-born babies, pregnant and lactating mothers.

The strike by community health nurses has intensified in the Upper East Region, forcing General Nurses and Midwives at various health centers and CHPS compounds to takeover the additional duties of community health nurses.

At some hospitals, clinics and CHPS centers, there were queues of pregnant and lactating mothers seeking health care. 

At the Plaza Health Center, Rebecca Anamolga, who is the in-charge of the facility said the strike is having an impact on healthcare delivery.

“Their strike is affecting health delivery, we will not run the child welfare clinic and community outreach where lactating mothers and their babies as well as pregnant women receive health information to promote the well-being and their babies and immunization for babies against the six killer diseases. We are appealing to the midwives and general nurses that are helping to contain the situation but for the community outreach there is nothing we can do about it.”

The situation wasn’t different at the Bolga Regional Hospital. The on in-charge of the Reproductive and Child Health, Elizabeth Abogan, said,”Lactating mothers were turned away because we couldn’t run the child welfare clinic for 3 days because that is done by community health nurses. But starting from Thursday, we midwives and general nurses will start running the facility until they call off the strike otherwise we will be punishing children who are due for immunization. Am planning to get one midwife who was a community health nurse to give immunization to newly born babies at the maternity ward until the community health nurses resume.”

At Yarigabiisi CHPS center, which has three community health nurses , a midwife and general nurse in-charge of the facility, Regina Webadua, was the only one attending to all persons who had come to the facility seeking health care because the general nurse was not well and could not come to work.

“I am the only one here attending to breastfeeding mothers and their babies, consulting and dressing wounds for patients. The strike is really affecting service delivery particularly the expanded programme on immunization (EPI) in the communities against killer diseases.”

However, student community and Health assistant nurses who are doing their clinical sessions, were assisting the mainstream nurses at some facilities to contain the situation.

Community Health Nurses on indefinite strike

The Community Health Nurses Association of Ghana (CHNAG) declared a nationwide indefinite strike on Tuesday May 31. The association has also threatened to take legal action against the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) over alleged illegalities meted out to its members.
At a news conference held in Accra, the President of the association, Mrs Esther Frimpomaa Bamfo, cited the change of name from Community Health Nurse to Nursing Assistant as the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“The name ‘Community Health Nurse’ has been a household name so far as preventive health care in Ghana is concerned and we cannot understand why it should be taken away from people who have been trained in Community Health Nursing,” she said.

Impediments to career development

The news conference, which was attended by regional representatives of CHNAG, also highlighted a myriad of challenges confronting the association, including impediments to career progression by its members.

Mrs Bamfo contended that the decision by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to issue Nursing Assistant certificate to their members, who were admitted by the Community Health Nurse’s requirement after the completion of their course, was unacceptable.

“We do not understand why such major decisions could be taken by the NMC without involving the CHNAG. We want to state that we do not want to be called Nurse Assistants. In fact, we have suffered discrimination, unfair treatment and frustration for far too long and will not relent in our decision to lay down our tools indefinitely,” she stated.

She said very little opportunity was given to members of the association to upgrade themselves in an era where healthcare delivery was fast changing and required constant upgrading of knowledge and skills.

According to her, some of its members had to serve for nine years without being given study leave to upgrade themselves, while those who completed access courses at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) were barely given the opportunity to pursue diploma courses.

The National Secretary of CHNAG, Mr Godsway Delima, who also spoke at the conference, said there was a general disregard for Community Health Nurses who faced daunting challenges in the remote communities where they provided health care.

“Our members in rural communities use their own resources to buy motorbikes in order to facilitate data collection in hard-to-reach-areas. But, we are least recognised by other stakeholders in healthcare delivery. This is unacceptable,” he said.