'Hungry' nurses demonstrate in Kumasi, cry for job

Some members of the Graduate Unemployed Nurses and Midwives Association (GUNMA), on Monday, April 8, 2024, took to the streets of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to demonstrate their lack of employment.

The angry graduate nurses and midwives, numbering about 17, who converged at the entrance of the Kumasi Center for National Culture expressed their displeasure about having to stay home years after completing school.

Early morning rain affected the turnout, as organizers were expecting about 500 people to hit the street.

Nevertheless, the nurses went ahead to protest on the principal streets of Kumasi to register their displeasure against the government under police escort.

The protest started at the Kumasi Center for National Culture through Pampaso, Kumasi Central Prisons, Adum, and KMA and ended at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, where they presented a petition to the Ashanti regional minister.

The nurses disclosed that there are about 60,000 to 70,000 unemployed nurses and midwives awaiting employment.

The Economic Planning Officer at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, Beatrice Kwateng Osei-Asare, received the petition on behalf of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, who was not at work.

The unemployed graduate nurses and midwives have fixed April 16 for another major demonstration in Accra against the government for failing to employ them.