Ghana health workers strike leaves patients without care

DW (English)

An ongoing strike by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) over a perceived failure to implement a 2024 collective bargaining agreement is affecting patients. Rural health care has seen the greatest impact.

Transcript

00:00Yousef Rahma is here for an antenatal care appointment.

00:05But there is no one to examine her pregnancy as nurses and midwives across Ghana go on strike.

00:13I was scheduled to come for ANC today. Now they are not working. I don't know what will happen when I go back.

00:21The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association says this strike is more than salary.

00:28It is about survival.

00:30We are really struggling. We are going through a lot. Our salary is nothing to take home.

00:36Even some of the months before they even pay you, you have even borrowed money from friends and colleagues.

00:41In early 2024, nurses negotiated a deal with the government.

00:46It included fuel and medical allowances, support for practicing license, a uniform allowance,

00:53and incentive for healthcare workers in remote regions.

00:58However, months later, they claimed nothing in the deal has been honored.

01:04In larger hospitals, services are now being provided by various unions of healthcare professionals who disagree with the strike.

01:12We feel that declaring an industrial action is the last resort for an employee or union leader should take.

01:21We would have wished to join the strike if maybe we had exhausted all the internal mechanisms.

01:27The Minister of Health is open for us to further engage us.

01:31The Minister of Finance is available to us and even scheduled a meeting to meet us in June, on the 18th of June.

01:38So why the rush to declare an industrial strike?

01:41Ghana's Labour Commission has called the strike illegal and ordered an immediate suspension.

01:47But the GRNMA, the country's largest nursing union, has not backed down.

01:54If it continues, patients like you could be left without care.

02:08Contrable awareness.

02:11As I said, the ruptured £3,000.

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