By Josephine Kekeli Amuzu
The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has issued a warning of a nationwide strike if the government proceeds with its decision to dismiss nurses and midwives recruited into the public sector after the December 7 elections.
The leadership of the GRNMA expressed concern that this directive will impact over 5,000 nurses and midwives, significantly affecting healthcare services across the country.
Speaking exclusively on 3news’ in Accra on February 14, GRNMA President Perpetual Ofori Ampofo called for an immediate halt to the planned dismissals.
Mrs. Ampofo cautioned, “any dismissal of those nurses and midwives will lead to a nationwide strike.”
She further explained, “There is a lot of tension in our fraternity, and you should be on our platforms, and we are saying that if they go ahead and suspend, we will have no choice but to stand in solidarity with our colleagues. And the solidarity means that if you are asking them to stay at home, then we will all stay at home in solidarity with them.”
A few weeks ago, the government, through the Chief of Staff, directed Heads of State Institutions to revoke the appointments of individuals hired after the December 2024 general elections if their names were not on the Controller and Accountant-General’s payroll as of January 2025.
This directive has triggered unrest among affected employees, including nurses and midwives from the 2020 and 2021 batches, who were recruited under the previous administration.
Mrs. Ofori Ampofo revealed that GRNMA leadership has engaged the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service has issued a directive instructing heads of institutions to begin dismissing the newly recruited nurses and midwives before any investigations are carried out.
Describing this move as unjust, Mrs. Ampofo lamented, “We already have our colleagues on the field experiencing burnout, units and departments that are not meeting the ideal nurse-to-patient ratios, and also faced with emigration of our colleagues into high-income countries. Therefore, there is a huge workload on those that are at post and working.”
She questioned the rationale behind suspending the affected nurses and midwives, stating, “If we have been able to recruit nurses and midwives to augment the care that is being given, why would we want to now suspend them to go and sit at home for investigations to be conducted? In our view, they should be at post for investigations to be conducted, and that will inform whatever actions we would want to take, but not the reverse.”
Mrs. Ampofo urged the Minister of Health to intervene and stop the dismissals.
“We had a meeting with the Minister on the 13th of February, and he explained to us, but he did not give us any indication that the nurses and midwives are going to be suspended,” she added.
