The announcement by the Youth Employment Agency to recruit some 5,000 Senior High School graduates as nurse assistants to support nurses working at various CHPS compounds across the country has been greeted with disdain by a section of the public.
The Deputy Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr. Mark-Kurt Nawaane alleged that the Youth Employment Agency may be up to no good in its attempt to recruit some 5,000 nurses to serve as assistants to nurses at the CHPS level.
Dr. Nawaame explained that such a disingenuous act is just to create an opportunity for some individuals to appropriate state monies to themselves.
Thomas Lambon, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) also expressed worry that the recruitment of some 5,000 SHS graduates to support nurses at CHPS compounds could reduce confidence within the health sector.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, August 24, 2022, Mr. Lambon explained that it was unconscionable that while some 20,000 nurses continued to stay home, the government through the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) had decided to engage some 5,000 SHS graduates to support nurses at the CHPS level across the country.
But speaking about the issue, the Deputy Upper East Regional Director of the YEA, Jonathan Abdallah Salifu explained that many may have misunderstood the purpose of the programme as well as its funding source.
He said monies used for the remuneration of the personnel don’t come from the Consolidate Fund but from varied dedicated sources.
“Much of our money comes from talk tax. We also get a percentage from GETFund. We get a percentage from NIA and then we get a percentage from the road fund.”
“Because of what we get from the Health Fund, the Health Ministry proposed that the government must come out with a programme that will help them. That is why the programme of training people to assist the nursing area was very important. Because of GetFund, we also did for teachers.”
He continued to say that “in 2006 when they were engaged, they were trained for 6 months. What were they trained on? We don’t train people from Russia, Ukraine or Sirigiu or Soe to come and train them [the SHS graduates]. We bring people from Ghana Health Service. They choose the resource persons and choose the curriculum.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
