‘SHS nurses’ will only assist registered nurses and doctors – YEA responds to GRNMA

We are not posting senior high school graduates to serve as nurses or doctors.

That is the response from Youth Employment Agency after it received backlash over its ongoing enrollment of senior high school graduates for deployment to rural health centres across the country.

The job description of the recruits is to help nurses with recording medical history and symptoms, conducting physical examinations, and providing simple bedside care to patients, mostly in rural communities.

However, in a statement released to the press, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) indicated that “Nursing and Midwifery is a profession that requires at least two to four years of intense training in both academic and practical skills.

“It is therefore unacceptable to infiltrate the system with three months or less trained individuals to nurse patients at a level as important as the CHPS which has been considered as one of the pragmatic strategies for achieving universal health coverage of a basic package of essential primary health services with international recognition.”

The General Secretary of the GRNMA, Mr. David Tenkorang Twum said on The Pulse on the JoyNews channel Tuesday, August 23, 2022 that the move poses a serious threat to public health.

But responding to the concerns of the nurses, Head of Corporate Affairs at YEA, Emmanuel Kwasi Afriyie told the host of JoyNews’ The Pulse, Blessed Sogah, that the agency will go ahead with the programme despite the pushback.

He added that given the sensitive nature of their service the SHS graduates are being carefully trained in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service.

Mr. Afriyie dispelled rumours that the high school levers will be attending to patients. He also urged the general public not to be discouraged in accessing healthcare from the various CHPS compounds across the country because “We (YEA) are not posting SHS graduates to act as nurses or doctors.”