Keta: The Keta Municipal Hospital in the Volta Region is facing significant challenges in quality healthcare delivery as Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) members continue with their industrial action. Despite some negotiation meetings by the national leadership of GRNMA and government officials, the strike persists, leaving patients frustrated and struggling to access quality healthcare.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr. Brilliant Gador, a Midwife and Medical Sonographer at the Keta Municipal Hospital, said that the strike has worsened the challenges faced by patients, who were experiencing longer waiting times and limited access to medical care. ‘Many patients have been forced to wait hours or even overnight to receive treatment, and some have expressed frustration with the lack of progress in resolving the strike,’ he said.
He explained that the situation has forced the few practicing nurses who are on post to work overtime due to the absence of others and noted that the most disturbing aspect of the situation was that many patients were stranded at the hospital, forcing health workers to work day and night.
Madam Mary Denu, Matron and Nurses’ Manager at the Keta Municipal Hospital, acknowledged that the situation was challenging but expressed confidence that the hospital’s leadership would work and bring the condition under control soon. ‘Essential departments such as maternity ward and OPD were working regularly with all nurses present, and we were also forced to deploy some service and student nurses to assist us with healthcare delivery.’
Madam Denu urged pregnant and nursing mothers to prioritise their health and visit the hospital for quality delivery and medical care while assuring the public that the hospital was doing everything possible to ensure their safety and well-being.
Some patients GNA interacted with expressed concern about the impact of the strike on their health and noted that they had been waiting in the OPD since the previous night, and appealed to the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) to call off the strike and engage in negotiations with the government to resolve their grievances.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister of Health, in addressing the media on the situation, said that the condition of service under reference were not captured in the 2025 national budget and would be a complete burden that would throw government and the economy off-gear if implemented immediately in the manner it currently exists. He added that,’ Government is pleading with retired nurses and midwives to volunteer and fill in the gaps created by the striking nurses until the situation is brought under control.’
The Minister’s statement has further sparked mixed reactions from the public while others charged the government to recruit trained-unemployment nurses and midwives if necessary. Mrs. Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, the President of GRNMA in a response to the minister’s statement said, ‘if government is telling us today that there is no room within the budget to cater for what we deserve as nurses and midwives, then they are telling us that they do not value what we do in the health space.’
GNA at Keta also observed that many other families and patients are moving to private health facilities within the area for healthcare as over 100,000 GRNMA members nationwide have vowed not to resume work until government implement their condition of service that were agreed in 2025.