Trainee nurses and midwives in the northern part of the country have appealed to the government to intervene to address the two-year delay in payment of allowance to them.

They said the Minister of Health announced on the floor of Parliament in July that allowances of trainee nurses and midwives had been paid a total amount of 140 million Ghana cedis but this had not reflected in their accounts.

A statement issued in Tamale on Wednesday and signed by Mr Adombire Clinton, President of the trainee nurses and midwives in the northern zone stated that many of the students depended on such allowances to pay their school fees and other educational expenses.

The statement said the absence of the allowances had brought hardships to the student body saying, “The level 200 and 300 trainee nurses and midwives have to live in rented houses, feed and transport themselves to their various schools regardless of the distance”.

The statement said in anticipation of the allowance, some of the students went for loans and since the allowances had delayed or had not been forthcoming, it had been difficult to pay back the loans.

“Student nurses, midwives and environmental inspectors go too far to reach parts of this country to render health care services to citizens who really need health care especially in the remote villages with or without CHPS compounds and sometimes have to cross rivers, exposed to snake bites, sexual harassment, riding through thick forest, no network coverage just to mention but a few”, it said.

“We are therefore appealing to the government and the Minister of Health to kindly help in ensuing that our allowances are paid to us,” it added.