The Coalition of Rotation Nurses and Midwives are asking the Deputy Minister for Health Alexander Abban to be truthful to them and also desist from throwing dust into the eyes of the general public.
These rotation nurses have not received their allowances since April 2019 and have made several attempts for the government to address the issue.
They claim the Deputy Minister in an interview on Class FM said processes are far advanced for the payment of these allowances but the rotation nurses in a press statement say biometric registration which is one of the main steps has not even started as the Minister claims.
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Below is the statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEWEDNESDAY 30TH OCTOBER, 2019
BE TRUTHFUL TO ROTATION NURSES AND GHANAIANS- ROTATION NURSES TO DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH*
We the Coalition of Rotation Nurses and Midwives would like to state that we are much disappointed in the honourable Deputy Minister of Health,Hon Alenxander Kodwo Abban for his statements in an interview on class fm Accra
In the said interview, the minister stated clearly that clearance has been released and even read the clearance which was issued on 24th September 2019 which is very true. Financial clearance being released is an essential step which has been done but other two important processes have been left unattended to after the release of the clearance. We never in our press statement mentioned that clearance has not been released.
What our press conference captured was that the government should pay us as soon as possible and with the right amount. The minister in the interview never talked about those issues but rather commented that
1. Biometric registration has started and portals of controller opens once every month.
2. And comparing our allowances with that of degree nurses which we think is unethicalNow, the truth of the matter is that biometric registration has never started. In a meeting held on 14/10/19 at the ministry of health with the Head of Public Relations of MOH, MOH PRO, Head of IPPD at MOH and many others, we were promised to start the biometric registration on 26th October 2019 because that's when the portal is opened at CAGD they said. Today is 30th October 2019 and we have not even received a notice to start the said biometric. So we are stating emphatically clear that the minister lied to the public by saying members of our coalition have undergone biometric and that should expect money from November.
The minister compared our allowances to that of degree nurses which is unethical. Everything the minister said we think is out of ignorance or probably lack of knowledge in the health sector because he should know all these payments are backed with documents. We as diploma health interns are captured in the 2019 single spine salary structure which the degree nurses are not. This has been the policy since 8 years ago and there has not been any document to move us from the single spine salary structure or reduce the amount indicated in it. The minister should have asked himself why the degree nurses do not receive student allowance before making those comments. We together with the degree nurses are aware of the merits and demerits of college and that of universities and decided to make our choice. He is an honourable member and should know that his statement can bring about confusion and separation.
We are however not surprised of his statements because he is not even aware of what he is saying. Everything he said was a reported speech because he has never met leadership of this coalition in person despite several petitions to meet him.
We are again by this statement serving a notice to the government that if our allowances are not paid within this week, we will embark on a nationwide civil action
We would love the Honourable deputy minister to be well informed about this issue and come out again to address the public.
Signed
Nathaniel Aboagye
Convenor
0548053192Suta Fabiane
Convenor
0241206150Kipo James
PRO
0553689862Naabedangbe Sebastian
Secretary
0554054844