The Ghana Nurse and Midwife Trainees’ Association has appealed to the government not to scrap the Trainee Nurse and Midwife allowances.
“If even the country is in hardship, will the government refuse to pay workers? Of course not,” the General Secretary of the Association, Blessing Ampofo, said to kingdomnews.com.
“When we vacate, and we go home, we go on our clinical assistantships, and it is this same money that we use for transportation,” Ms. Ampofo explained further.
The pushback follows calls by Civil Society Organisations to the government to abolish the system as part of measures to deal with the current economic crisis.
Ghana’s return to the International Monetary Fund has also prompted speculation about policies that will be jettisoned by the government to save money.
Ms. Ampofo, urged the government not to heed the suggestions, but rather to focus on paying all allowances and arrears owed to the trainee nurses and midwives.
She said it had been 10 months since some nurses received their allowances, despite assurances from the government.
“We also have students who have never received their allowances. The government is owing them 20 months and more,” Ms. Ampofo said.
