Private nurses demonstrating
There is a simple solution to the long protracted battle between nurses from private nursing schools in the country and government.
The solution is to halt the accreditation of private health training institutions from training these nurses, who end up without job placement or posting.
But this approach will be a defeatist one, since nurses are part of essential service providers.
A visit to any of our health facilities reveals a very frightening situation; the numbers of nurses needed to attend to patients are in short supply. Those who are available have to do double shift to make up for the shortage.
Talk to any of the supervisors or matrons and the complaints are always the same. Nurses apart from how desperate we need them at the hospitals and clinics, can also be exported to other countries, which are equally desperate for them.
The right structures and legislation if necessary be put in place to ensure that, the process is transparent, as well consider the safety and security of those, who will wish to travel outside and work.
Cuba is doing it for their medical doctors, why can’t Ghana do the same.
On Monday, The Coalition of Unemployed Private Nurses, held a press conference to register their displeasure at what they describe as discrimination in the postings of trained nurses.
Over the years, preference, have been given to nurses trained in public institutions over those from the private ones. The reason being that, those trained in public nursing training institutions, have been bonded by government to serve a certain period of time, because of the allowance and other incentives that they enjoy.
That practice, has created problems for the past and current government, with the trained nurses picketing at the ministry of health, demanding to be posted.
The government, has done what it was supposed to have done years ago, by scrapping the bonding of trainee nurses, this will create equal opportunity for everyone who finishes their training both from the public and private nursing institutions.
Until then, government should hear the cry of the Coalition of Unemployed Private Nurses and consider posting them, alongside those from the public nursing training institutions.
