The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has rejected the government’s appeal for retired nurses and midwives to temporarily return to service, saying the move is not a viable solution to the ongoing nationwide strike.
Responding to Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh’s call on retired health workers to step in as a stopgap measure, GRNMA Vice President Samuel Alagkora Akologo described the suggestion as misguided and insensitive to the realities facing retired professionals.
“We just feel we are not being treated fairly,” Akologo said in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Tuesday June 10. “What he said — that they have asked retired nurses and midwives to come and support…They are battling with cardiovascular diseases, [metabolic] chemical diseases, which they are using their meagre pension money to take care of.”
He emphasised that many retired nurses face the same socio-economic struggles as the general population, making them unfit for the physical and emotional demands of returning to active service.
According to Akologo, most of them left the service early due to poor working conditions and cannot be relied upon to resolve a systemic crisis.
“So to say you are calling on retired nurses to come and work — the solution to the problem is: we’ve made a proposal. Start the implementation now. At least if there are arrears and you think you cannot pay, you can discuss that one later. But to tell us to wait till next year is not something that we will accept,” he stressed.
Akologo further questioned the practicality of the government’s plan, pointing out that the number of retired nurses is small and that many are already members of the GRNMA.
“How many are the retired nurses? Most of them go home very early. So how many are they? And they are our members… The minister is not even aware of that,” he said.
While acknowledging that some retired nurses may choose to volunteer during this difficult period, Akologo maintained that such a gesture cannot replace real, long-term solutions.
“We have no problem if they decide to come and assist — after all, we are also not happy with the situation in the country. So if they come and they are able to deal with the dying emergencies, it is fine with everybody. But it is not the solution to the problem. How long can they go?”
The GRNMA continues to insist on immediate implementation of their revised conditions of service, warning that temporary measures like appealing to retirees will not resolve the deeper issues behind the strike.
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