N/R nursing service personnel threaten strike

About 300 nursing service personnel posted to various health facilities in the Northern Region have served notice of withdrawing their services at the end of January, 2015.

They are protesting against the delay in the payment of their five months accumulated salaries.

They have accused authorities of the Ministry of Health of paying lip service to their concerns.

The Diploma holders in nursing, told Citi News their threats are non-negotiable.
They therefore asked the National Service Secretariat to immediately address their grievance ahead of the stipulated period.

Their Spokesperson, Amadu Suweidu explained, “We started the service in September 2014 like all other service personnel in the country and up to date we are still not paid our allowances meanwhile the other service personnel are getting their allowances.”

“The service is for one year, we are approaching the sixth month and our fate is still hanging in the balance: one would have thought that due to the nature of our work and the risk involved especially these days of Ebola we would have been the first to be paid yet this is not the case,” he added.

Health Minister, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah

According to Amadu Suweidu, their living conditions have worsened as a result, meanwhile, according to them, the cost of transportation and other services needed to make them more efficient have sky-rocketed.

“Transportation to our various hospitals is a problem: some of us are being chased around by our landlords over unpaid rent and feeding is a big challenge for us especially under this difficult economic condition.”

Further investigations by Citi News showed that the Tamale Teaching Hospital will be the hardest hit among the major health facilities in the region if the angry nursing service personnel carry out their threats to lay down their tools.

Citi News also gathered that the services of the nursing service personnel are indispensable taking cognizance of the numerical strength of the workforce of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/Citifmonline.com/Ghana