The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has appeal to the government, demanding inclusion of long-standing allowances in the upcoming mid-year budget review.
The Association asserts that the current offer, which sees only two out of four key demands potentially entering the budget, is insufficient and a betrayal of promises made in their collective agreement.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, Mrs. Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, President of the GRNMA, articulated the deep dissatisfaction among her members.
“We have not been treated fairly as nurses and midwives. It is not fair when we work in the same health space, and what do we see? Others are enjoying the same thing that we have asked for,” she said.
She highlighted a perceived lack of fairness within the healthcare sector.
The President noted that the collective agreement, which contained those allowances, was signed as far back as May 2024, yet implementation remained a challenge.
“The GRNMA’s immediate focus for the mid-year budget includes the 80 per cent non-basic allowance, a uniform allowance, and book and research allowance,” she said.
Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo revealed that discussions with government officials indicated only two of these four would be considered for the mid-year review, with other items, such as rural incentive allowance and on-call facilitation, pushed to the 2026 budget.
She said this deferral had drawn sharp criticism from the members of GRNMA.
The President said already one year and one month of the life of their collective agreement was already gone
She emphasised that all items within the agreement that could not be incorporated into the mid-year budget should be ready for inclusion in the main 2026 budget, to ensure payment before the agreement’s expiry.
Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo also called on President Mahama to personally intervene, stressing that the welfare of nurses and midwives extended beyond individual leaders.
“When they do it for the nurses and midwives out there, they are doing it for them. They are not doing it for me… They are doing it for their people, their own people, nurses and midwives of Ghana,” she said.
GNA
