Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, the president of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), has said that members are okay to pay a 25 percent increment for their license verification.
This comes on the back of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) decision to increase the fees from GHS550 to GHs3,000, representing about a 445 percent increment.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issue on Sunday, March 31, Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo stressed the impact the new fee was going to have on the nurses.
According to her, the NMC board has agreed to review its fees and charges, and she hopes that the concerns and proposals of the association will be considered.
“At the level of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s board, the board is going to review the new fees and charges and will also take into consideration our proposal. And therefore we are keeping our fingers crossed that the discussion on that matter will bring us to a level where we will have an amount that is acceptable by all and fair and will benefit all parties,” Madam Ofori-Ampofo said.
She underscored that the association had “a big problem” with the new fee, which was over 400 percent higher than the original amount.
“So we have said that a 25 percent increment in the 550 [Ghana cedis] would be fine,” she stated, adding that “we don’t mind us having to pay up to even the 3,000 cedis for expedited service or a premium service that takes 48 or 72 hours to provide, unlike the regular service that takes about two months and over.”
On the back of rumours that the new fee is an attempt to clamp down on the brain drain in the country, Ofori-Ampofo noted that not only nurses are travelling and that individuals who want to travel cannot be stopped from doing so.
Ofori-Ampofo therefore called on stakeholders to improve the conditions of service for the nurses. She proposed that an average Ghanaian certificate nurse should earn about GHS10,000.
However, the average take-home salary of nurses on the single-spine salary structure, according to her, is between GHS2,000 and GHS2,500.
She added that the conditions of service for nurses and midwives in Ghana, compared to other countries, are not the best.
“If you ask me to describe it in a word or two, I will tell you it is not the best. it is not the best because, when you compare it to our compatriots who are in high-income countries or other countries where conditions are better, it is far better than what we have here. But we understand that the economy of Ghana is not the same as in these other countries.
“The situation of remuneration and other conditions of service cannot be the same, but currently, we are on the negotiation table, we are negotiating our conditions of service, the collective agreement that is in force now expired and we are negotiating it,” she explained.
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Meanwhile, Madam Ofori-Ampofo noted that the NMC has been directed to hold on to the new fees following a March 26 meeting with stakeholders.
