Group demands permanent employment for 75,000 graduate unemployed nurses and midwives

The Graduate Unemployed Nurses and Midwives Association (GUNMA) has requested financial clearance and permanent employment from the government for its members who completed their studies in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Speaking to the media at a press briefing in Accra, the Public Relations Officer of the group, Sarah Mensah, disclosed that the group, which consists of nurses and midwives who have been trained by various accredited public universities and training colleges and have passed their NMC licensure examination, currently numbers about 75,000.

On behalf of the group, Ms. Mensah reminded President Akufo-Addo, the Health Minister, and the Finance Minister of the backlog of 2020, 2021, and 2022 nurses and midwives who are awaiting their postings to render their services to the country of Ghana and to prevent skills decay.

“We wish to remind the government of the backlog of 2020, 2021, and 2022 nurses and midwives who are awaiting their postings to render their services to the country to prevent continued skill decay day by day and also to acquire more knowledge in the profession since nursing and midwifery practice is a continuous process that needs constant knowledge upgrade in the field,” she said.

Ms. Mensah accused authorities of engaging the services of untrained senior high school graduates, placing them in jobs that qualified nurses and midwives should be filling.

“Qualified trained nurses and midwives are unposted and jobless, while the government and its agencies have ignored these qualified and employed unqualified hands, such as senior high school graduates, to undertake training to practice in the wards,” she added.

She further accused some of their unemployed colleagues of paying bribes to unnamed officials in order to get employment, asking the president to investigate this.

“We are bringing to the attention of the president of Ghana (His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo), the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Finance that there are some officials we classify as ‘ghost officials’ who are enriching themselves and their families by receiving huge sums of money from our own colleagues and offering them job opportunities, and this we believe the government is unaware of and intends to create his awareness.”

The group advised the government to assess the potential risks linked to the significant number of health professionals leaving the country for regular employment.