Nurses ask to be included in the NHIC

Bolgatanga, Sept 30, GNA - The Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) has appealed to the government to include it in the National Health Insurance Council since the National Insurance Act 650 has left the Association out.

"It is very sad to note that despite our numerical strength and the major role nurses play in the health delivery system, we have no representation on the National Insurance Council," Mrs Lice Darkoa Asare-Allotey, President of GRNA, said in Bolgatanga during the recent celebration of the 22nd annual and 10th Biennial National Delegates Conference of GRNA.

She said the Association had made extensive efforts to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the omission but has had no response so far.

Mrs Asare-Allotey said Nurses were the backbone of most health care teams and were committed to ensuring safety and quality care through self-regulation, professional discipline and accountability to the public.

"Every nurse knows that the safety of the patient cannot be compromised," she said adding that the Association had sought to retain them on regular basis to enable them be efficient in their work. Mrs Asare-Allotey said however that the good image of the Ghanaian nurse was in danger as many people had cause to complain about the occasional disagreeable attitude some of them had towards patients. "We have a collective effort to redeem our image as nurses by our training, we make decisions which affect human life. We need to reflect on what we have learnt and understood from our studies and training about different cultures, beliefs and societal values of the people we took after," Mrs Asare-Allotey said.

The conference was under the theme: "Nurses for Patient Safety - Advancing quality care through National Health Insurance." It provided a forum for the nurses to deliberate on relevant matters of their profession.