‘We thought today will end our 4-year joblessness, but our situation has worsened – Disappointed Enrolled Nurses

More than 300 enrolled nurses from the 2020-year group across the country who thronged the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate became stranded after spending the night there.

This was after officials of the Regional Health Directorate recruited only thirty of the nurses, leaving the rest to their fate.
These categories of nurses have been at home after duly writing and passing their licensure examination and obtaining the Professional Identification Number (PIN) in 2020.

Earlier the nurses heaved a sigh of relief and could smile through the storm when the Ghana Health Service announced the reactivation of its portal for recruitment.

On when Monday, the enrolled nurses of whom some are lactating mothers numbering over three hundred, reported to the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate to be absorbed into the system.

But they had the shock of their lives when the Human Resource Manager at the Health Directorate told them that only thirty nurses are needed to satisfy the quota given to the region.

The thirty nurses will be posted to the Ada East and West districts where human capital in the health sector is in short supply. But this development did not go down well with the unposted nurses.

One of the nurses told Stanley Nii Blewu of 3news.com that four years of their jobless lives have only being a burden on their families adding that “we were happy when the portal was activated for us to register to be recruited. We got here only for us to be told to go back home because only thirty of us will be selected and those people have already been chosen”.

Veronica Anokye, another disturbed unposted health worker recounted how discomforting the recruitment process has been for them. She said “we thought today could be the end to our four-year joblessness but our situation has rather worsened”.

A senior staff of the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate later engaged the nurses and asked them to go home, emphasizing that nothing could be done to exceed the quota that the region has been given.

“Whether you stay here for the next hundred years or not, we can’t do anything about your situation unless there has been an order from Ghana Health Service instructing us,” he said.

Eventually, the enrolled nurses had to leave the premises disappointed.

The Ghana Health Service activated its portal for the recruitment of six thousand nurses of all categories nationwide after the Ministry of Finance had issued clearance.

However, the Greater Accra Region was allocated a quota of just 122.

After the exhaustion of the 30 slots allocated to the enrolled nurses, the remaining ninety-two quota is expected to cater for other nursing categories including midwives, general nursing and nursing officers.

But the nurses want the quota system reviewed to make room to absorb more health workers whose services are needed but are staying at home.

The post ‘We thought today will end our 4-year joblessness, but our situation has worsened – Disappointed Enrolled Nurses first appeared on 3News.

Read Full Story