The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has denied receiving a formal letter from the National Labour Commission (NLC) to call off its strike with immediate effect.

This comes after the National Labour Commission (NLC) in an earlier directive called on the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) to immediately call off its strike and return to work after declaring the industrial action illegal.

According to the Commission, the nurses and midwives failed to comply with the legal procedures required under Section 159 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

This follows healthcare services across the country being severely impacted as members of the GRNMA continued their strike, leaving patients stranded and medical facilities struggling to cope.

However, speaking on Ghana Kasa on June 5, 2025, Assistant National Public Relations Officer, Philemon Agyapong, asserted that despite various media outlets and social media handles report on the letter, the National Secretariat has not received any such letter.

The NLC had described the strike as illegal, but Mr. Agyepong questioned why the commission failed to settle the impasse within the initial 72 hours of their strike, as stipulated by law.

“Why did the Labour Commission fail to settle the impasse within 72 hours, even after our press conference giving out our roadmap, but waited till June 4 to describe our action as illegal?” he questioned.

According to Mr. Agyepong, the strike action will not have any negative repercussions on nurses and midwives but rather on the citizens, given the essential nature of their services to the country.

“We are the backbone of the health sector, and the implication will not be on our necks but rather on the citizenry,” he added.

Mr. Agyepong expressed frustration that nurses and midwives are often taken for granted and not given the attention they deserve.
He noted that while the public often describes nurses and midwives as “disrespectful,” they fail to question whether nurses are being paid adequately and provided with the right working conditions.

“The public mostly describes nurses and midwives as disrespectful but also fails to question whether we’re being paid well and given the right conditions of service,” he added.

Mr. Agyepong also highlighted the disparity in how Ghanaian nurses and midwives are treated in Ghana compared to other countries.

He noted that Ghanaian nurses who work in countries like the UK are rated as one of the world’s most efficient due to better working conditions there, but the same cannot be said of them in their home country (Ghana) due to a lack of prioritisation.

 

Source: Akua Oteng Amponsah