The Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives, Ghana (UPNMG) has expressed disagreement with the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) over the latter’s proposals to the president as regards who frontline health workers are.
At a meeting at the Presidency on Wednesday, leadership of the Association had defined frontline nurses involved in the fight against Covid-19 to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and subsequently proposed that those who are not working at treatment centres will receive 35 per cent of their basic salaries as allowance.
In a statement issued on Thursday, UPNMG said GRNM’s proposal is “unacceptable and contradicts the definition of frontline health workers as explained by the Hon Minister of Health at the press briefing held on the 7th April, 2020 at the Ministry of Information”.
“We find this proposal from the GRNMA bizarre since all indications proved that the Hon. Minister of Health was fighting for the inclusion of all health workers in the enjoyment of the 50% basic salary as allowance,” the statement jointly signed by National President Maxwell Oduro Yeboah and National PRO John Agbenyeavu.
President Akufo-Addo had announced incentives to the workers leading the fight against Covid-19, promising them full emoluments from April to June.
They will also receive 50 per cent of their basic salaries as allowances, from March.
But members of UPNMG think GRNMA goofed in their presentation to the president.
It therefore distanced itself from the “strange” proposal and “calls on all members to remain calm while we push for equal treatment for all at this critical moment”.
There have been disagreements over the definition of frontline health workers after President Akufo-Addo made the announcement on Sunday.
The announcement was to incentivize the health workers as some were already falling victim to the disease.
Nurses at the Accident and Emergency Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, for instance, threatened to sit out of work after one of them tested positive for Covid-19.
UPNMG said it proposed to government to consider all nurses and midwives as frontline health workers and “not just those working at the treatment centres”.
It assured members that dialogues will continue with the president in order to include all especially nurses in remote communities in the benefits.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana