Enrolled and community nurses to withdraw services partially

Enrolled and community health nurses will from today withdraw their services partially, following the Health Ministry’s failure to guarantee their career progression and improve their conditions of service.

The certificate nurses have been agitating for a job evaluation that will secure them get better pay under the Single Spine pay policy. They are also calling for a system that will allow them to upgrade their qualification from certificates into Diplomas.

According to them, despite their many years of job experience, they are still required to enter nursing training colleges with WASSCE certificates.

President of the Enrolled and Community Nurses Association, Fredrick Limbe, told Ultimate Radio a promise by government to introduce a top- up course to enable them upgrade this year has not been fulfilled. He says they will not go beyond offering any extra duty services at their health post.

“Look at the senior enrolled nurses who are 35 years now, but the last level for them is something you cannot write home about. If someone comes out today, as a junior staff with diploma, he or she is better than those enrolled nurses, who are now titled as superintendent enrolled nurses, which is not the best”.

“That is why we pleaded with them that, if, by last Friday, we didn’t receive any notice from them, then it is better we call on our members and let them stick to their job description and lay down their borrowed tools because if I am working and you don’t appreciate that I am working, I will leave the work,” he said in anger.