We clean their poop with a smile: Nurses defend strike, demand fairness from government
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (11 Wednesday), Solomon Ajao, Regional Secretary of the GRNMA in Greater Accra, and Prosper Kpobi, Chairman of the Korle-Bu Special District of GRNMA, shared emotional accounts of the daily realities of nurses and midwives — and why they believe the strike is necessary
Leaders of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) have defended their ongoing nationwide strike, rejecting claims of insensitivity and calling instead for urgent government action to honour a long-delayed collective agreement.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (11 Wednesday), Solomon Ajao, Regional Secretary of the GRNMA in Greater Accra, and Prosper Kpobi, Chairman of the Korle-Bu Special District of GRNMA, shared emotional accounts of the daily realities of nurses and midwives — and why they believe the strike is necessary.
“It’s quite unfortunate when we hear such sentiments or questions coming through when we’ve not taken the pain to appreciate what nurses and midwives do in our health industry,” Ajao said. “We’re simply saying: give us what is due to us. This is not a demand we just came up with.”
A Broken Promise
At the heart of the strike is the delayed implementation of a collective agreement negotiated in May 2024 and due to take effect in July that year. A legal challenge by a breakaway group stalled its implementation until a court settlement in January 2025. With that legal barrier resolved, the union says it formally notified the Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies.
“We met the ministry six times,” Ajao said. “Each time, we were told to wait. First for a new minister, then for a budget, then for a meeting that never came. In the end, we were told there was no space for us in the 2025 budget — only 2026.”
The final blow came during a meeting on June 9, when union leaders were asked to call off the strike without any immediate concessions from government negotiators. Ajao described that response as “unfair” and “disrespectful” to essential health workers.
“All our colleagues who negotiated similar agreements — in the same health sector — are already enjoying theirs. So why must the nurse or midwife wait a whole two years?” he asked.
The life of a nurse: “Wake up at 3am, feed, bathe, carry the sick”
Prosper Kpobi offered a vivid, sobering account of what it means to be a nurse in Ghana.
“We wake up at 3 a.m. because most of us live far from our facilities. By the time we get to work, we’re setting up wards, organising logistics, screening patients, and arranging consultations — and that’s even before the doctor arrives,” he said.
Nurses, he explained, are not just assistants but the backbone of the system: from dressing wounds, checking vitals, and educating patients to feeding, bathing and lifting the immobile.
“You’re nursing a tuberculosis patient who coughs in your face. You can’t slap the person — it’s your job. And when we do this and get injured or infected, all we ask is: promise us you’ll take care of us,’” he said.
Kpobi also pointed to the sacrifices of nurses in remote areas. “Some midwives in village clinics act as doctors, pharmacists, lab technicians, and cleaners — all in one. One of our members manages five communities alone, riding a motorbike daily to attend to pregnant women and sick children.”
“In our own homes, people frown when cleaning a loved one. We clean strangers’ poop — with a smile,” he added.
More than 128,000 nurses and midwives are involved in the nationwide strike — an estimated 85–90% of Ghana’s nursing workforce. Health facilities, including teaching hospitals like Korle-Bu, have been severely affected. The government has asked retired nurses to return temporarily, but the union insists: nothing short of implementation will resolve the impasse.
“We’ve been patient. We gave the government a generous roadmap. But promises and excuses have run out,” said Ajao.
As the standoff enters a critical phase, the GRNMA is urging the public to understand the human cost behind the strike — not just for patients but for the very people who have dedicated their lives to caring for them.
“We don’t want to be on strike,” said Kpobi. “But we also don’t want to be taken for granted.”
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