For failing to sack the Ashanti Regional Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), nurses at the Manhyia government Hospital will from tomorrow, Friday, 2 December begin a sit-down strike.

The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) spearheading the strike said it will be escalated on 6 December where all nurses in the region will remain at home if the NSS regional Director, Mr Alex Opoku-Mensah is still at post.

The Association in a statement further said there will be a nationwide strike of nurses by Friday, 9 November 2022, if their demand is not met.

Mr Opoku-Mensah has been suspended by the management of the NSS pending investigations but the GRNMA is unsatisfied. 

They want him sacked from office for barging into the Manhyia Government Hospital to insult a nurse on duty.

Mr Opoku-Mensah went to the hospital to fight the nurse on behalf of his daughter after the nurse had questioned the house officer on an issue.

The nurse is believed to have used her own phone to call Mr Opoku-Mensah’s daughter to come to the hospital and log into the E-Health System and update a patient’s prescription order so that the patient is not billed for unissued drugs.

It is not clear how the nurse communicated with Mr Mensah’s daughter on the phone which made her feel disrespected.

Mr Opoku-Mensah then followed his daughter to the hospital and was captured on tape insulting the nurse and threatening to mastermind her removal from the hospital.

He went on further to say his daughter is more intelligent than the said nurse and further threatened to come to the hospital in his daughter’s defence anytime she is intimidated by anyone in the facility.  

The GRNMA said Mr Mensah had no right to enter the hospital to abuse a nurse.

The group said as a Regional Director of the NSS, he should have known that the Manhyia District Hospital has management with whom he could have lodged a complaint instead of barging into the facility to attack the nurse.

Meanwhile, Mr Opoku-Mensah has apologised for his action.

In a Facebook post, the embattled Mr Opoku-Mensah said “I understand the disappointment and appreciate the inconvenience my action has caused the general public as well as the Nursing FRATERNITY and Manhyia Hospital.

“This has never been my style but for a genuine reason to mediate a persistent issue between my daughter(Doctor) and a colleague nurse who I as well consider my daughter.

“I do apologize for any mishap and assure all, there shall not be a repetition of such.

“I look forward to maintaining a cordial relationship with any affected person.”