By Akure Albert Mbawini

Ghana's healthcare system is at a crossroads. Many qualified nurses and midwives are waiting for job opportunities while nurse assistant programmes continue to churn out graduates, adding to the growing pool of unemployed healthcare professionals and making it unbearable.

I have witnessed colleagues struggling with unpaid salaries for months, and it is heartbreaking.

The Health Minister has acknowledged the inherited problems, and it is clear that healthcare politics play a significant role in shaping our system's future.

In 2017, the NPP government took a bold step towards reforming nursing programmes by issuing a directive to all health training institutions, instructing them to halt admissions into certificate nursing programmes, including Nurse Assistant Clinical (NAC) and Nurse Assistant Preventive (NAP) courses. Unfortunately, the government abruptly reversed its decision less than a week later, citing political pressure.

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This sudden change has had a lasting effect, with private institutions continuing to produce nurse assistants and flooding the job market, making employment very scarce.

Let us take a closer look at how this decision has impacted our healthcare system.

Nurse assistant programmes were designed to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in rural and underserved areas, providing opportunities for individuals to join the workforce and improve healthcare delivery in these regions.

While they have made valuable contributions to the healthcare fraternity, it is time to reassess their relevance in today's landscape.

With many qualified nurses and midwives awaiting employment, we need to evaluate whether these programmes are meeting our healthcare system's needs today.

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The silence from key stakeholders is deafening. The Nurse and Midwifery Council, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), and the Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives Ghana (UPNMG) all seem to be holding their tongues, potentially due to conflicting interests.

Meanwhile, the unsustainable production of nurses and midwives continues, with private institutions churning out graduates without adequate oversight, further exacerbating the existing backlog of unemployed healthcare professionals.

This raises critical questions about the future of Ghana's healthcare workforce and the need for urgent reform.

Ghana has made significant progress in developing a robust pool of qualified nurses and midwives. This shift might change the role of nurse assistant programmes in our society today.

By cancelling or modifying these programmes, we could alleviate some challenges faced by unemployed nurses and midwives and create a more efficient healthcare system that we need.

Let us weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of this decision.

By taking a thoughtful and long-term approach, policymakers can make informed decisions that will benefit the country today and in the future.

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Phasing out or adjusting nurse assistant programmes could be a step towards creating a more effective healthcare system. It will equally help to ensure that healthcare professionals are well equipped to deliver their service.

Let us consider the potential impact on our healthcare workforce and the country's overall well-being as we move forward as a nation.

The NDC/NPP's politics and silence in addressing and modifying these nursing programmes will continue to have repercussions for them as politicians and policymakers.

Similarly, nurses and midwives will continuously be frustrated and stage demonstrations over issues like posting, unpaid rotation allowances, and delayed salaries, ultimately affecting the political landscape.

The earlier this is taken into consideration, the better for the health sector of our country and the future.