Psychiatric Nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital have threatened an indefinite strike over government’s failure to provide the facility with the basic logistics needed to carry out their duties effectively.
According to the Chairperson of the Nurses, Jamila Hussein, the lack of medication for patients at the facility renders staff to vulnerabilities such as physical attacks from patients.
[contextly_sidebar id=”UhgLaXR92aSSltwBkfxrVoGAl8a8JbZ9″]“The patients are either beating us or they are beating other patients. That is the situation now. Those detergents keep the place clean and in section three, the minimum hours a nurse spends in a ward is eight hours so we are at risk. Some of us are even developing infections.”
They have therefore called on government to address these challenges or face their wrath.
“We are hoping that from today till next week Friday, the government or the Minister or whoever is responsible will hear our cry and come to our aid and get us the things we need. If by Friday we don’t hear from them then we are going to embark on a strike.”
Accra Psychiatric Hospital shuts down OPD
The hospital suspended services at the department a few weeks ago due to financial constraints.
The situation forced the hospital’s suppliers to withdraw their services over the unpaid debts.
Others suppliers also dragged the mental facility to court to demand payment.
Strike
This is not the first time Nurses have threatened to embark on a strike over poor conditions of service.
In 2015, nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital embarked on an indefinite strike over unpaid salaries.
The strike followed what the nurses described as deceit and failure on the part of government to fulfill promises to pay them.
The nurses however called off their strike after government intervened.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah