Nurse and Midwife Trainees bark at Government over unpaid Allowances since June 2020

The National Executive Board of the Ghana Nurse-Midwife Trainees Association (GNMTA) is asking government to as a matter of urgency resume payment of the trainee allowance which was halted since June 2020.

A release dated April 25 and signed by leaders of the association says much as it acknowledges the efforts of the current government to ease the sufferings of the trainee nurses and midwives after the cancellation of their allowances by the erstwhile NDC government between 2015-2016, it is incumbent on the current government to fulfill it’s promises of restoring the allowances which have been in arrears for the past 13 months.

The release stated that most parents and guardians believing that the payment of these allowances was still in force have stopped paying fees for their wards and only gave them money for their upkeep with the notion that they are still taking their monthly allowances, meanwhile, the Ministry of Health came out with a directive in 2019 that students upon reporting to school were expected to pay 60% of total fees before being allowed to attend lectures.

This according to the release was adversely affecting many of the students especially those from poor backgrounds as many of such students depend on these allowances to pay their fees coupled with the psychological trauma and the humiliation some of them go through at the hands of some Principals of Nursing Training Colleges (NTCs).

The release concludes by giving government a one week ultimatum to get these allowances paid or issue a directive to heads of the various Health Training Institutions to allow students who have paid up to 60% of their fees to sit for the end-of- semester exams.

Read full release below:

GNMTA DEMANDS EIGTH MONTHS ALLOWANCES OWED TRAINEE NURSES AND MIDWIVES BY GOVERNMENT

The National Executive Board (NEB) of Ghana Nurse-Midwife Trainees’ Association (GNMTA) has noted with apt attention the inactive posture of the government of the Republic of Ghana with regards to the plight of the over 92 Nursing training colleges with a population of over 80000 Trainee Nurses and Midwives across the length and breadth of this country in the payment of its allowances.

We acknowledge the efforts made by this current Government to ease the sufferings the trainee nurse and midwife were subjected to between the year 2015-2016 due to the cancellation of the allowance by the erstwhile Government.

Notwithstanding, as a Government that has urged its people to be citizens and not spectators, we wish to use this role of us being citizens to crave the indulgence of the President, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Government of the day on the halt in the payment of the trainee’s allowances since June 2020 which has posed a lot of threats and difficulties to the trainee nurses and midwife. Similarly to note, some students are been owned arrears for over thirteen (13) months.

We wish to establish with conspicuity for the government to recognize that, most parents and guardians appreciating that the Government is paying Trainee Nurses and Midwives allowances have stopped paying fees and giving their wards money for upkeep with the notion that they receive allowances on monthly basis.

One can only imagine what these students have been through for all these eight months without the allowances. Not only that, Trainee Nurses and Midwives who were undergoing Training and currently undergoing their one-year mandatory National Service are also owed month arrears which nothing has been done about it.

Moreover, the Ministry of Health in 2019 came out with a directive that students upon reporting to school are expected to pay 60% of total fees before they will be allowed to attend lectures. It is an undeniable fact that students not only from poor backgrounds depend solely on the allowances to pay their fees but due to the failure of the government to do so in that regard, students are psychologically traumatized by the humiliation they go through in the hands of Principals of some of the NTC’s.

All efforts to get the Ministry of Health to pay these allowances have been fruitless upon meetings and calls to their outfit. We are therefore using this medium to bemoan to the Ghanaian populace and Government as well as our parents, guardians to know exactly that allowances for trainees has come to a stalemate since June 2020 and further call on the Government to come clear on this issue on what has necessitated all this delay.

To this end, we wish to sternly give the Government an ultimatum of this week to get these allowances paid or issue a directive to the various heads of Health Training Institutions to allow students who have paid 60% of their fees to sit for the end-of-semester exams.

We GNMTA has always believed in the use of dialogue and non-violence means to achieve results but all struggles to resolve this issue once and for all using dialogue has failed which necessitated this Press Release.

Long live GNMTA
Long live GHANA

Signed…

ELIJAH AMFO-ADJEI
(NATIONAL PRESIDENT)
Tel: 0596478082/0209835302

ASAAH LAMBERT NSOBILA
(NATIONAL SECRETARY)
Tel: 0209930548/0547865800

NIMOH JESUS
(NATIONAL PRO)
Tel: 0541808863

By Nelson Ayivor || ghananewsonline.com.gh