Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July ?99

Parliament on Wednesday urged the Ministries of Health and Finance to expedite action on the payment of nurses' allowances to help end their industrial action.

In a statement to the House on "The Nurses' Industrial Action", Dr Richard Winfred Anane, NPP-Bantama, observed that while the nation should not be permitted to be taken to ransom by any section of the society, "the peculiar circumstances of the striking nurses vis-à-vis unfulfilled promises should be appreciated".

Dr Anane pointed out that hospitals in the country will surely be paralysed if there is a complete withdrawal of nursing services.

"Our doctors alone will never be able to cope because the nurses' role is a necessary complement to the doctor's.

"We do not have to permit unnecessary and untimely mortalities to occur before we take corrective measures," he stressed.

Dr Anane said there is a "credibility gap" between the nurses and the Ministry of Health and, therefore, appealed to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health to intervene to help find a lasting solution to the problem.

Mr Austin Akufo Gamey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, urged nurses who have not yet submitted their forms to do so without any further delay, to speed up payment of the allowances.

Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minority Spokesman on Health, asked the Ministry of Health to approach the issue in an impartial manner.

Dr Addo-Kufuor, who is also the MP for Manhyia, hoped the ministry would fulfil all promises made to health workers, including the striking nurses.

Mr A S K Bagbin, NDC-Nadowli North, stressed the need to bridge the communication gap between the employer and the employee, and urged government to release adequate funds to help educate the people.

Squadron Leader Clend Sowu, NDC-Anlo, said because election is just around the corner, the labour front should guard against what he termed the "election syndrome" by minimising the numerous industrial unrests.

Mr Modestus Yawo Ahiable, NDC-Ketu North, appealed to nurses to call off their strike so as not, to put the precious lives of the ordinary people of this country at risk.

Junior nurses at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital embarked on strike action on Monday, July 19, to back their demand for the payment of their extra-duty allowances from January to July, this year.

At a meeting on the day before the strike, the nurses rejected government's promise to pay them the allowances by Monday, July 28.

On Monday, the striking nurses refused to take allowances paid to them because it worked up to only 35.7 per cent instead of the 50 per cent they claimed the Ministry of Health had promised them.