The Ministry of Health (MoH) has revealed it has received financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance to employ 14,254 Nurse Assistants (Clinical and Preventive) from Government Nursing Institutions.

This revelation comes in defence of the President’s statement on the recruitment of clinical staff while delivering his third State of the Nation Address, on Thursday, February 21. 

According to the MoH the names of the recruits have also been verified by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, with these Nurse Assistants belonging to the tranche that passed their examinations in 2016 from Government Health Training Institutions; and had commenced work by February 1, 2019.

A statement issued by the Ministry, and signed by Nana Kwabena Adjei-Mensah, the Chief Director of the Ministry, therefore, stated that the President, therefore, did not err in his account on the matter when he delivered his State of the Nation address to Parliament, on Thursday.

The Ministry, the statement said, was also working to obtain Financial Clearance for the 2017 and 2018 graduates.

Additionally, it had received financial authorisation from the Ministry of Finance to begin the recruitment process for 5,787 for the 2016 batch of the bonded nurses and midwives who had completed their National Service, and their clearance would take effect from April 1, 2019.

It, therefore, refuted the publications on some media platforms with the caption: “Misinformation from the President of the Republic of Ghana”.

It said in furtherance of the financial clearance, the Ministry had issued the number of Nurse Assistants (Clinical and Preventive) for allocation to each Agency for posting to their respective health facilities.

The agencies, it said, had also commenced the recruitment processes, which was ongoing, and therefore, urged the prospective Nurse Assistants - both Clinical and Preventive applicants - to contact the MOH agencies for details of the recruitment process.