Members of the Community Health Nurses Association have threatened to embark on a peaceful demonstration and subsequently go on strike if the Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC) does not reverse its decision to change their designation as Community Health Nurses to Nurse Assistants.

The Association noted that the move to change their designation contravenes Article 191(b) of the 1992 Constitution and amounts to a demotion.

President of the Association, Mrs. Esther Bamfo, told a news conference that: “We have suffered discrimination and frustration for far too long and would not sit down for this demotion to be carried out.”

She said the NMC failed to engage the association in taking the decision.

“We will embark on a peaceful demonstration and if that is not heeded, we will then lay down our tools and thereafter seek a court intervention,” she warned.

Community Health Nurses are trained in schools for two years and work at the community level to promote disease prevention.