The Ministry of Finance has given assurances that the salary arrears of thousands of nurses and midwives will be addressed in the upcoming 2026 Budget after the health workers staged a protest in Accra.
This come after the Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives, on Thursday, October 2 marched to the Ministry in Accra to demand salaries that have been delayed for up to ten months.
Waving placards and chanting, the health workers said the situation had left many unable to afford basic living expenses despite working in hospitals and clinics nationwide.
In their petition, the coalition accused the government of unfair treatment.
Convenor Stephen Kwadwo Takyiah declared, “We, the Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives, representing about 7,000 unpaid nurses and midwives, submit this petition to your High Office with deep pain and frustration, sir. For the past nine to ten months, we have been working in hospitals and in clinics across the country without salary.”
“Your Ministry has reportedly delayed our payment on the grounds of budgetary constraints and expiration of financial clearance. Respectfully, sir, it is unacceptable for duly recruited health professionals with official financial clearance to be lumped together with payroll irregularities.”
Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Ampem Nyarko, who received the petition, apologised to the nurses and pledged that the arrears would be addressed in the upcoming budget presentation.
The Deputy Minister also praised the dedication of the nurses despite their difficulties, assuring them that their concerns would receive “urgent attention.”
“In the next month or so, the Finance Minister will be in Parliament to present a new budget. Issues of health, workers who have not been paid, not just you. There are even some doctors and others are seriously being considered. And you are going to receive your salary,” he said, noting that legacy payroll challenges were partly to blame for the delay.
