Bolgatanga – The President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Mrs Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, has presented 15 motorbikes to the Association’s Municipal and District offices in the Upper East Region to facilitate administrative work.
The Municipal and District executives of the Association relied on their personal motorbikes and in some cases public transport to conduct official duties within their Districts and the Regional Office in Bolgatanga.
At a brief ceremony to present the motorbikes on behalf of Mrs Ofori-Ampofo, the Association’s Regional Chairman, Mr Thomas Lambon noted that the lack of means of transport, especially for executives who were far from the Regional capital, affected their administrative work.
He said it was a challenge for executives to reach out to members in remote communities to interact with them, and help address some issues of concern, “We realized that members who are at remote areas sometimes have issues, but executives could not reach out them.
“That has been one of the issues that we as an Association have been dealing with over the years. So the motorbikes are to facilitate their movement,” the Regional Chairman said.
He recalled that in 2021, the Association, under the leadership of Mrs Ofori-Ampofo, provided mini-buses to all 10 administrative Regions of the GRNMA for administrative and other activities of concern to the Association in the Regions.
Mr Lambon, who is also an Anaesthetist at the Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, said the welfare of nurses and midwives was of great concern to leadership of the GRNMA, which he described as the “Mother Association” of all nurses and midwives in Ghana.
“GRNMA prioritizes the welfare of members and has been working to improve the living conditions of members over the years,” the Chair said.
He mentioned some packages, including the Association’s soft loans scheme, Health Fund, the GRNMA Infonet Application, the Estate project and renewal of Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and Axillary Identification Numbers (AINs) among others that members benefitted.
On the soft loan scheme, the Chair said the Association took the initiative two years ago to offer loans to its members with minimum amount of GH?500.00 and maximum of GH?10,000.00 which was repayable within 24 months at 10 per cent per annum.
Mr Lambon said six per cent of members total dues deducted from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department was set aside as health fund to support members whose medical treatment was beyond the remit of the National Health Insurance Scheme.
“Natural disasters like fire outbreaks and flooding are not left out. Recently, we received four cheques for members in the Region who had applied for support from the GRNMA Health Fund.
“The Health Fund is not an insurance and therefore benefits depend on a member’s condition, and where the treatment is taking place,” Mr Lambon explained.
He indicated that with the GRNMA Infonet application, all loans, health fund support, fire or flood disasters, retirement and death benefits could be requested through the application.
Mr Bernard Anankor, the Regional Chief Nursing and midwifery Officer, who handed over the motorbikes to the executives, commended leadership of the GRNMA for the several initiatives it had over the years implemented to benefit nurses and midwives.
He called for unity and strength among all the rank and file of the Association and advised all other unions within the nursing and midwifery fraternity to merge with the GRNMA to make the Association more formidable to better address their concerns.
Mr Desmond Yaani, the Builsa South District Chairman of the Association in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after he received the motorbike, said, “With these motorbikes, we can visit members in hard-to-reach areas as some of the road networks leading to such areas are footpaths.”
Source: Ghana News Agency
