COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSES STRIKE

Story by Jasmine Oman 

(BLG NEWS REPORTER).

·     About thirteen thousand community health nurses laid down their tools over how their certificates had been labeled

·   Strikes are affecting immunization schedules and affecting healthcare delivery in remote and rural areas.

The ongoing strike by Community Health Nurses across the country which began on the 31^st of May is according to sources affecting healthcare delivery at various community health centers in the country, especially in the Upper East Region. This although not a surprise to citizens, is an issue that could cause loss of lives and particularly of sick people.

      Healthcare delivery personnel are generally known for their selflessness and care. It’s therefore saddening to find out that this strike is as a result of the government’s decision to have their title or name changed from ‘Community Health Nurses’ to ‘Assistant Nurses’.  Are these nurses interested in the health and welfare of people or rather in titles they carry as a group? Their refusal to accept this change was premised on a possible change in social standing/respect and perhaps their remuneration.

It is a habit of humans in general, to relatively accord people who have the prefix ‘assistant’ attached to their positions in their professions with “lesser” or no respect. This fact, again brings to the realization of the plight the community nurses who would be made victims of their “title or name” if it’s changed, especially if it would negatively affect their remuneration. On what basis and with what intention therefore, did the government decide to make such a change? Does the government intend to decrease their remuneration just as it stopped giving out the allowances? Does the government think Community Health Nurses are perhaps not performing satisfactorily or is it, on the contrary, to have their remuneration increased and perhaps level or status entrenched further?

      Apparently, strikes by healthcare personnel, whether doctors, registered general nurses, midwives or community health nurses have always been a threat to healthcare delivery and lives in general. According to the Registered General Nurses and Midwives in the Upper East Region, immunization mobility has become a problem due to the absence of the very nurses who are supposed to go around  the communities (preferably, house-to-house) to immunize newly born babies and underage children against the yellow fever. However, at the Teshie “Maami” RCH Community Clinic, situated just around the Teshie Presbyterian S.H.S., healthcare delivery was ongoing and effective. The strike didn’t seem to have affected their delivery and nurses in charge of each segment or post in the clinic were present and effectively working. As a matter of fact, the residents of the “Maami” community and most patients who visited the RCH Community Clinic were not even aware of the ongoing strike.

      The government should therefore be more careful with the sort of decisions it takes concerning healthcare delivery and medical personnel no matter how trivial, to avoid strikes of this sort in future. Government should also keep on negotiating with the Community Health Nurses representatives and resolve this strike amicably and as soon as possible.