Test all nurses for coronavirus; Association demands on International Nurses Day
The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has called on the government to conduct mass testing of nurses and midwives at various levels of the healthcare system for coronavirus (COVID-19).
According to the association, per its analysis, majority of healthcare workers infected by the COVID-19 were those in other units and not those stationed at the treatment centres.
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At an event to commemorate this year’s International Nurses Day which fell yesterday, the President of the association, Mrs Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, noted that currently there were about 32 confirmed cases and 259 who were in quarantine.
“It, therefore, stands to reason that nurses and midwives everywhere are heavily exposed to contracting the virus and it will be imperative for the Ministry of Health and its agencies to never again assign the word “frontline” to only deployed staff but recognise that healthcare professionals, including nurses and midwives are all frontline healthcare workers,” she said.
Anniversary
The International Nurses Day was celebrated on the theme “Nursing the World to Health: Projecting the True Value of Ghanaian Nurses and Midwives”.
The association also launched its 60th anniversary on the theme ‘Striving for Universal Health Coverage, A Voice to Lead’.
During the programme, the association also launched the GRNMA Credit Mall, GRNMA Stanbic Welfare Products and the Ruth Ama Eshun Memorial Education Fund to support the welfare of nurses and midwives and their families.
Psychological support
Mrs Ofori-Ampofo commended the government for its efforts to curb the pandemic but stressed the need for psychological support for healthcare workers, as well as the provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at all levels.
The association further requested that governments invest in higher nursing and midwifery education and to also fast-track the process of financial clearance of graduate nurses to address the shortfalls in the staffing levels.
Nurses’ recruitment
In his remarks, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Benard Okoe-Boye, said the government was looking at processing a minimum of 20,000 nurses for financial clearance and recruitment this year.
With regard to motivation and encouragement, he said the government would continue to engage stakeholders to provide good incentives for health workers.
Uphold ethics
In her keynote address, the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery of the University of Ghana, Professor Lydia Aziato, urged health workers to uphold their ethics while treating COVID-19 patients to build confidence in the health system.
She noted that the healthcare system could not function without the work of nurses and midwives, therefore, any attempt to neglect or ignore them would be suicidal to society.