Government to revoke bonding arrangement with nurses

Deputy Health Minister Tina Mensah has revealed that moves are underway by government to revoke the bonding arrangement between trainee nurses and the government of Ghana.

The comment by the Weija MP comes on the back of the protest being staged at the premises of the Health ministry by midwives and psychiatric nurses yet to be posted. The nurses numbering over 900 slept at the compound of the ministry on Monday to press home their demand.

They are accusing government of playing politics with their recruitment, alluding that the Vice President’s claim that all nurses awaiting financial clearance had been cleared and posted by the government within their first 100 days is untrue.

Speaking to Starr News, Madam Mensah said the bonding law must be reviewed in order to take the pressure off government.

“The ministry is looking to review this bonding, we are considering that because coming to do all these things here… a lot of private schools are also into the training of nurses and everybody is training because they know that when you finish you are bonded for someone to get you a job.

“So the enrollment and the numbers are just increasing everywhere; after all you may not need the numbers at the same time so you must know the limit and how many you need at a particular time,” she said.

Former Health minister under the erstwhile NDC administration Alex Segbefia last year gave hints that the ministry was considering ways to terminate the bonding arrangement.

The government of Ghana introduced the bonding arrangement in 2005 to curb the brain drain in the health sector which was affecting health delivery in the country.