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A group of unemployed graduate Nurses and Midwives recently staged a protest in Tamale, Northern Region, to voice their profound frustration with their current situation.
The crux of their discontent lies with the government and its agencies, particularly the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), whom they accuse of neglecting to provide financial clearance and secure permanent employment for over 75,000 graduate nurses and midwives.
These highly qualified professionals have completed their training at accredited public universities and training colleges and have successfully passed their licensing exams conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
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The protesting nurses are demanding that the government address the backlog of nurses and midwives from 2020, 2021, and 2022 who are still awaiting their postings to serve the country.
They argue that while they remain unemployed, the government and its agencies have shown a preference for hiring unqualified individuals, such as senior high school graduates, who undergo minimal training to work in healthcare settings. This disparity in hiring practices has exacerbated their frustrations.
Abdul Rauf, a nurse among the protesting group, raised a crucial question regarding the actions of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), stating, “The Nursing and Midwifery Council is mandated by the Health Professional Regulatory Act to secure, in the public’s interest, the highest training and practice for nurses and midwives in this country. If I have been trained and inducted and sit home for close to four years, where then lies their mandate?”
Another nurse from the protesting group expressed his grievances, saying, “Nurses should not do their rotation for close to a year before their allowances are released, nurses should not sit in the house for so many years before they are posted, nurses should not picket before they are posted, and believe it or not, throughout the world, nurses are the backbone of every country.”
