Nurses at the Saboba Medical Centre (SMC) in the Saboba District of the Northern Region have embarked on an industrial strike bringing efficient and effective health delivery in the district to a standstill.
The nurses are protesting what they call undue delays and refusal by the hospital management to pay them their rural allowance for a period of three years.
They have therefore given the authorities up to the end of June, 2014 to pay them their allowances or face their wrath as they will no longer tolerate any delays in paying the accumulated amount.
According to the nurses, they agreed with management of the facility to forfeit the allowance to allow for expansion and provision of essential services and infrastructure to help boost health delivery in the district but management cannot account for the said monies as the facility still lacks infrastructure and basic logistics.
President of the Saboba branch of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), Eyal Tiajawan Moses in a telephone interview said their patience has been taken for granted by the hospital authorities for far too long.
He indicated for their love for the country, they stopped taking the allowance for almost three months to allow for expansion and development of the hospital but the accountant and administrator thinks otherwise, so they are demanding their money now.
He lamented facilities at the hospital have deteriorated as they compete with animals at the theatre, no ambulance and they are forced to transport patients to Yendi in commercial vehicles, a situation he described as unfortunate.
Mr. Moses admitted a series of meetings have been convened with the authorities but expressed worry that the outcome will not be fruitful as that was not the first time.
Not even reportage of the issue by a community radio station, radio Gaaki, early warning of a looming crisis in the health sector in the district if the strike persists since the hospital is the only major heath facility serving the district and its surrounding communities has been adhered to by the management of the hospital. The nurses president claimed not even paracetamol is in the hospital at the moment.
Meanwhile, the management has held an emergency meeting on Tuesday with the aggrieved nurses assuring them that their concerns will be addressed.''We have just ended a meeting with management and they have assured us that our concerns will be address'' Eyal Tiajawan Moses told Zaa News on phone.
Categories:
