Nurses welcome withdrawal of sanctions against trainees

The Ghana Registered Nurses’ Association (GRNA), has hailed the Dunkwa-on-Offin Nursing and Midwifery Training School authority’s decision to withdraw sanctions it imposed on some trainees demanding payment of unpaid allowances.

About 500 of the students thronged the headquarters of the Ministry of Health in Accra a few weeks ago to pressurise the government to release their deferred allowances.

The action of the students subsequently incurred the wrath of the School’s Advisory Board who recommended among other things that the trainees apologise to the School’s Management Board, stakeholders, the Association Executives, Nananom and the Minister of Health.

They were also to sign a bond to be of good behaviour and commence a two-week suspension as punishment

But the GRNA President, Mr Kwaku Asante-Krobea in a statement copied to Ghana News Agency said it had learnt that the School’s authority had withdrawn the sanctions and that was welcoming news.

“We welcome the idea of withdrawal of the sanctions against the Nursing and Midwifery trainees of the Dunkwa-on-Offin Nursing and Midwifery school whilst we eagerly await the report of the Ministry of Health investigative Committee,” he said.

The Association however condemned the manner in which the “flight to Accra” took place if indeed the School authorities did not know anything about it and said it ought to be investigated.

The Association, however, said it took cognizance of the fact that “the exasperated trainees whose legally earned training allowances had remained unpaid whilst others had received theirs could fall into a situation that could cause considerable disquiet amongst them”.

“I cannot help but describe such an endeavour as a desperate flight for survival because of the issue at stake,” Mr Asante-Krobea said.

He said the reason for endorsing the withdrawal of sanctions stemmed from the fact that the move by the Board smacked of blatant disregard for the suffering of the students who were struggling to survive.