Accra Psychiatric Hospital Nurses on strike

Junior nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital have declared a one-week strike in protest at the delay in the payment of their salaries. They marked the beginning of the strike with a protest march at the hospital on Monday.

Wearing red armbands and chanting slogans, the demonstrators marched from their various departments to the entrance of the hospital, where they demanded a response from the administration.

They resolved to return to work on July 7, 2014, to find out what the hospital’s administration had done about their grievance.

Accusation

They accused the Human Resource Manager of the hospital of deliberately delaying the processing of documents for the payment of their salaries.

A nurse, Mr Eugene Amponsah, who is also one of the leaders of the group, told the Daily Graphic that they had submitted their petition to the management and expected them to take action on the matter soon.

“Some of us have worked close to 11 months and have not received a penny from the hospital as allowance or salary. It is frustrating and as such we must fight for our salary,” he said.

Mr Emmanuel Febiri, another nurse, alleged that the Human Resource Manager did not submit forms for the payment of their salaries to the Ministry of Health (MOH), resulting in the delay.

According to him, the forms were submitted to the MOH on May 12, 2014 when they (nurses) had filled and submitted the forms to the Human Resource Department on February 10, 2014.

Management’s reaction

Mr Febiri said that was the reason why they had to go on strike to put pressure on the management to facilitate the payment of their salaries, adding that “we would stay at home until a response is heard from the hospital.”

According to the nurses, the management, at a closed-door meeting between the two parties, agreed to take a decision on the nurses’ grievance, explaining that the decision would be taken when the Chief Psychiatric Officer, Dr Akwasi Osei, returned from Nigeria.