The exploitation of nurses and midwives must stop

Nurses and midwives are the largest group of health care professionals in Ghana but they are the least motivated health staff in the country. From our CHPS facilities up to the teaching hospitals, they are the category you will find at all levels.

They mostly perform duties out of their job descriptions and core duties. Ranging from "orderly", accounting, records officer, health insurance claims officer, etc. all in addition to his/her normal clinical or preventive duties depending on where he/she finds himself/herself especially in the northern region.

But most of these activities are done without any appreciation from the superiors or authorities. They work under difficult and challenging conditions and environments yet they are expected to perform miracles.

Most of these nurses and midwives are exploited by their District health Directors/DHAs or hospital administrators and medical superintendents (medical sups).

They use them (nurses and midwives) to generate funds at their various health facilities which the superiors only use to motivate themselves at the detriment of the poor nurse and or midwife.

Sometimes these same nurse or midwife will need basic equipment like gloves to work with but will not be able to access the funds he/she has generated. "Monkey dey work, bamboo dey chop”.

Some other health staff who are not nurses or midwives are motivated and pampered with this same IGF that the nurses and the midwives generate at some point or facilities.

At times when a nurse or midwife needs financial assistance/support to further his or education, it becomes a problem but the other categories of health staff get it easy.

There's this common saying in Ghana that; "everybody chops from his work side" but the case is different for nurses and midwives at most facilities.

Upon all these injustices and discrimination, the nurse or midwife is the one who normally receives the blame for most of the "negative" things at our hospitals even if it has nothing to do with nurses or midwives.

The nurse or midwife gets insulted by patients and their relatives very often and at times from some arrogant med sups, directors, lab technicians, accounts officers, etc. upon a little or no provocation. In most extreme cases, patients and their relatives physically abuse or assault the poor nurse or midwife.

There instances where Doctors perform operations with the assistance of nurses which are not covered by NHIS, but these doctors will claim the money alone and spend without "looking into the faces" of the very nurses who assisted them in the operations. At the end, the doctor goes home compensated and the poor nurses goes gnawing his teeth.

Leadership of nurses and midwives should be interested in the welfare and safety of their members at the various health facilities because most of our members are being exploited for the benefit of their employers or superiors or medical superintendents.

The interest of GRNMA should not be focused on dues payment alone.

As nurses and midwives who provide health care services to patients/clients, there's no specific HEALTH INSURANCE POLICY for us but other departments and agencies do have it where their members who report sick/ill are taken care of or funds made available for their health care services.

Hmmmm!! This shows that, "possession is never ownership".

Despite all these challenges that nurses and midwives face day in and day out, they go to work with high hopes and internally motivated to render quality health care to their patients and clients.

If we want to overcome some of these challenges, I think we need a united front devoid of hypocrisy and backstabbing to be able to fight for what is due us as nurses and midwives.

Thank you for your time.

By: Mohammed Abubakari