Government has justified its decision to hold a ceremony Tuesday to launch the restoration of allowances for trainee nurses and midwives.
The Health Ministry announced Thursday that a ceremony has been scheduled to take place at the Sunyani Nursing and Midwifery Training School in the Brong Ahafo Region to mark the launch, something that has since attracted criticism.
Some Ghanaians have questioned the decision, and described it as a waste of public resources and working hours but the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, has defended the planned ceremony to announce the reintroduction of the allowance that was scrapped under the John Mahama administration.
Mr. Agyemang-Manu explained the event would be used to inform Ghanaians of the good works being executed by the government.
The restoration of the allowance will see some 68,000 trainees receiving an amount of GHC400 each monthly.
The Minister said it is unfortunate for anyone to describe the launch as unnecessary, insisting it is important for all to know that the government has honoured its promise to nurses to restore the allowances.
“I don’t see why anyone would say the launch is unnecessary. The launch is to demonstrate to Ghanaians that the government has honoured its promise” he said Friday.
He, however indicated, the re-introduction of the allowances will not in anyway cause admissions into the various trainin institutions to be scaled down.
Mr. Agyemang- Manu said the government is skewing down to community health nurses more than those who will be working in the clinics.
“The government’s decision to increase the number of CHIP zones requires that people who are specialized in that area are employed to manage these CHIP Zones” he said.
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