The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has advised nurses to withdraw from unsafe work environments whenever their safety is threatened, following a string of violent incidents at health facilities.
Greater Accra Regional Chairman, Jefferson Asare, issued the call after yet another assault on nurses at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), captured in a viral video.
“At any point in time when you feel the environment in which you serve is not safe, please take yourself out of that environment. The Labour Act supports this — it is explicit,” Asare stressed on The Big Issue on Saturday, August 23.
He revealed that five separate attacks have been recorded at Ridge Hospital this year alone, describing the pattern as deeply alarming.
Asare clarified that the directive was not an invitation to abandon duty altogether but a protective measure against escalating violence:
“If you have about 50 rowdy men in the small space of the emergency ward and you still stand there to work, they can kill you. In such cases, put yourself out of that environment.”
The Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has since set up a committee to probe the latest Ridge incident, with a report expected by Monday, August 25.
Meanwhile, one of the victims, nurse Rejoice Tsotso Bortei, has filed a GHS 7 million civil lawsuit against social media personality Ralph Saint Williams (Ralph De Fellow Ghanaian), accusing him of assault and defamation linked to the clash.
