The Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives has commended government for the thoughtful initiative to offer nurses, midwives and other health professional tax waivers from April 2020 in appreciation of the efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Union said that although Ghana’s cumulative case count currently stands at 45,655 with 44,797 recoveries and 294 deaths; the efforts of health professionals has helped the country achieve higher recoveries and maintain lower case counts and deaths as compared to other countries.
For this reason, UPNMG is urging government to consider extending the tax waivers for nurses, midwives and other health professionals to December 2020 instead of government’s intended September 2020. UPNMG also encouraged government to consider naming all health workers as frontline workers and not a select few.
These concerns were contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of UPNMG, John Agbenyeavu and copied to Radio Waa News. According to the statement, UPNMG opined that with the current numbers and the workload on all health professionals alike, it is essential that government continues to offer motivational packages to health workers.
The statement also warned that if adequate measures are not put in place, with the reopening of airports and the increase in number of people at social gathering; the country could see a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. This according to the statement would mean more work for the health professionals.
Mr Agbenyeavu through the statement appealed to government to fast track negotiations on the Conditions of Service for nurses and midwives “which has been going on for some time now”. Mr Agbenyeavu commended health workers for their selfless service to Ghanaians stressing that “the history of Ghana cannot be complete without the mention of the role we [health professionals] played in keeping the country and her citizens safe during the peak of the pandemic”.
