This nutritionist, Akosua Konadu, just wants to repay Ghana back for the support she had during her education, but the issue of clearance from the government has left her unable to do so like many other healthcare professionals.

She is of the view that the disregard for certain category of health-workers, was manifesting itself in the health status of the citizens.

“As far as I am concerned, I am trained and I want my people to benefit from what I have, as a professional nutritionist. I cant keep my knowledge. I want people to be better. I want malnutrition to end,” she declared on Eyewitness News.

Her remarks came hours after graduate nurses stormed the premises of the Ministry of Health on Monday morning to demand postings to government health facilities.

Monday’s protest by the over 200 graduate nurses was the latest attempt by healthcare professionals, ranging from physician assistants bonded diploma nurses and midwives, to draw government’s attention to the need for posting.

Ms. Konadu, who was speaking on the Point Blank segment on Eyewitness News alongside Richard Osei Yeboah, the President of the National Health Students, said her profession was in need of more support.

She has been seeking employment, but like the other health professionals, she needs clearance from the Ghana Health Service, via the Finance Ministry before getting any placement in health institutions.

“If this advocacy was going on as far as nutritional health was concerned, I think that some of these issues would have been addressed. People are dying of hypertension, stroke and all the non-communicable diseases,” she stated.

“The government will need to absorb these professionals because what is the use if our people can’t benefit from us [nutritionists]. Their taxes somewhat supported us even though we paid fees so what is my use if I have all this information at my disposal and cannot help people and have my people die of simple issues.”

The ‘silent killer’

UNICEF has cited nutrition issues in Ghana as a “silent killer.”

“Too many children in Ghana suffer from health issues stemming from malnutrition which is an underlying cause of one-third of all child deaths. More than one in five children in Ghana is stunted (suffering from chronic malnutrition),” UNICEF has said.

The situation is worse in the Northern Ghana where almost two in every five children are stunted, and more than 80% of children suffer from anaemia.

Ms. Konadu highlighted how ill-equipped Ghana was to fight malnutrition in northern Ghana despite the efforts of a number of NGOs.

“Go to the three northern regions, there are several NGOs in the system but we are not making any impact because the professionals are not on the field. Go to Wa; they have no regional nutritionist, they have no district nutritionists,” she lamented.

Exploitation from private sector

Some of these health professionals try to get busy working in private institutions, but some of them end up getting exploited, according to Ms. Kondadu.

“What you are even due, you are not given. They are taking advantage of professionals. Somebody goes to work from morning to evening and is taking Ghc 400 or GHc 500 a month. It is so bad. A good number of them are taking advantage of the professionals because if the government, who is the mother is failing to do something about the situation, what do you think the private people will do.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post My skill is wasting away – Jobless nutritionist cries out appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

They have threatened to picket at the Ministry of Health to have their employment issues addressed.

[contextly_sidebar id=”8dD1fZBqnCsxULzHeFklNOZhAoLuPefZ”]The group, who graduated from the Kintampo College of Health in the Brong Ahafo Region between 2013 and 2015, say the government is yet to recruit them after although they’ve completed all the mandatory academic processes.

The spokesperson of the group, Asante Offei, told Citi News that, the government had refused to employ them despite completing the one-year mandatory internship, and that they are prepared to go all lengths to have their issue addressed.

“We know that the only language the government and the agencies understand is picketing. So we have planned that we will be hitting the premises of the Ministry of Health to picket so that the entire nation will know that there is a backlog of Pas that are uncared for, abandoned and their skills are rusting in the house.”

Picketing at the Health Ministry to demand employment has become a common phenomenon in the country especially in the last three (3) years.

The government has consistently given assurances that it will address their demands, but that has often been after series of protests including picketing at the ministry.

Recently, a group of unemployed nurses spent two days at the Ministry demanding their posting. They had their issue resolved after they spent the night at the Ministry.

Some trained veterinary doctors in the country, last week also threatened to take legal action against the government because they had been left several months without jobs despite completing their academic program.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance finally cleared some 245 doctors after six months of being unemployed.

Last week, the commitment of the government to absorbing these doctors, and healthcare in general, was questioned when one of the doctors wrote to Citi FM conveying the frustration of the jobless doctors who appear ready to serve the country.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Jobless physician assistants to picket at Health Ministry appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Gbagbo is accused of plunging his country into civil war rather than relinquish his grip on power after losing a presidential run-off vote in 2010.

In the 131-page ruling, judges found out that there were “substantial grounds to believe” Gbagbo was criminally responsible for the crimes committed during the violence, singling out supporters of his political rival Alassane Ouattara for “systematic attack”.

Prosecutors say he devised a plan with co-conspirators including his wife Simone, who remains under house arrest in Ivory Coast, and youth leader Charles Ble Goude, currently in ICC custody, to stoke the violence and benefit from it.

“It’s the first victory for the victims of the post-election crisis,” said Issiaka Diaby, who heads a collective of victims of the violence. “From today, people will know you can no longer kill and burn people with impunity.”

Lawyers for Gbagbo could not be immediately reached for comment and it was unclear whether they planned to appeal the judges’ decision that prosecutors had submitted enough evidence to justify pursuing the case.

“The Ivorian Popular Front expresses its astonishment and bitterness faced with a decision that contributes nothing to national reconciliation,” Gbagbo’s political party said in a statement published late on Thursday.

Supporters of Gbagbo and Ble Goude have accused Ouattara, now president, of using the court as a political tool to get rid of his political enemies. They have criticised prosecutors for bringing cases only against Gbagbo and his allies.

“Obviously the decision that was taken was the one we were hoping for, because the evidence was there,” Ivorian government spokesman Bruno Kone said. “I think it is a good thing for the victims.”

The decision to commit Gbagbo for trial is a success for the court’s prosecutors, who have been criticised for building weak cases that have been thrown out before reaching trial.

The court, set up a decade ago to try those accused of the worst international crimes, has handed down just three verdicts in its first decade.

New York-based Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision to try Gbagbo, which it said would “remind those in positions of power that they are not immune from justice”.

Gbagbo has been in custody since 2011, when Ouattara handed him over to the Hague-based court. Gbagbo could face a maximum prison term of life imprisonment if convicted. No trial date has yet been set.

Source: Reuters

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