President of the Ghanaian-Diaspora Nursing Alliance (G-DNA), Prof. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, has called for more attention to be given to specialties in the country’s nursing system.

This, she said, will serve the present demands of the health sector, as well as help the nurses serve more effectively.

While acknowledging the growth of the nursing sector, with many trained professionals, Prof. Commodore-Mensah, who is also an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Schools of Nursing and Public Health in Baltimore, stressed that the numbers do not compliment the need for specialised nurses.

“I have to acknowledge that in Ghana, we’ve made a lot of progress in training more nurses but the progress we’ve made in training basic nurses has not translated in progress in training specialty nurses. So, we need nurses who are trained in diverse specialty areas, such as cardiology, diabetes, infectious diseases, cancer, and we need specialised training to meet the healthcare needs of Ghanaians.

“So, we know that a lot chronic conditions are lot more common such as hypertension, kidney disease, diabetes, so we need to make sure that the nurses we have in Ghana have the adequate levels of specialisation and training to be able to care for these patients.”

Prof. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah the comments during the launch of the Ghanaian-Diaspora Nursing Alliance (G-DNA) in Accra.

The Alliance, which has the backing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives (GCNM), the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), will help bridge the gap in nursing between local nurses and those in the diaspora as well as help its members in Ghana connect with their counterparts in the diaspora.

Members of the G-DNA Executive Board are Prof Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, President and Co-Founder; Dr. Matilda Decker, Vice President and Co-Founder; Dr. Ruth-Alma Turkson-Ocran, Executive Director; Dr. Daniel Apau, Co-Director of Education; and Irene Fankah, Co-Director of Education.

The rest are Evelyn Amoako, Ghana Liaison; Thomas Hinneh, Co-Director of Research and Quality Improvement; Angela Agore, Co-Director of Research and Quality Improvement; Jacqueline Idun, Public Relations Officer; and Josephine Agyei, Social Media Manager.

The group also has a 10-member Advisory Council including Victoria Bubunyo Bam, President, Associate Professor at the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives; Eva Mensah, Director of Nursing and Midwifery Service, Ghana Health Service; Philomena Woolley, Ag. Registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council; and David Tenkorang-Twum, Secretary, GRNMA.

The others are Florence Naab, Dean of UG School of Nursing and Midwifery; Nancy Reynolds, Associate Dean of Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Center for Global Initiatives; Veronica Dzomeku, Dean, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Depth of Nursing and Midwifery, KNUST; Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, President, GRNMA; Prof. Lydia Aziato, Vice Chancellor, University of Health and Allied Sciences; and Hannah Acquah, Rector, Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives.

AE/MA