The Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives Ghana (UPNMG), a labour union has launched a nationwide land and housing scheme for its members to help reduce challenges in the acquisition of land.
As a start, the union has acquired a 50-acre (200 plots) parcel of land in the Upper West Region, located at Sanchiga in the Wa Municipality.
It would be made available to interested members who want to acquire building plots.
A portion of the land would also be used to construct affordable houses for members of the union, who are posted to the region and are in need of accommodation.
Facilities such as a health centre and police post as well as administration post would be built to provide medicare and adequate security for residents.
Launching the scheme on Tuesday, the National President of the UPNMG, Mr Maxwell Odo Yeboah expressed gratitude to the chiefs for embracing the vision of the union and making the land available to them.
The union, he noted, had made significant strides in the pursuit of its mandate which included insurance policies, support for the education and health needs of members, in addition to its housing scheme and loans.
“This is one of the regions that has embraced UPNMG and its policies wholeheartedly and also the first region to acquire a regional office, so it is not a surprise that we are here to launch the land and housing scheme as well,” he said.
He explained that the union had been rigorous in its quest to improve upon the economic and social status of nurses and midwives in the various regions through mobilisation of resources.
The president trumpeted that UPNMG which was birthed in 2017 had seen a lot of growth and development, some of which he enumerated as a growth in membership from a single digit in 2017 to 1,303 in 2022 in the region.
Mr Yeboah said the union was not only helping members but was also supporting the government to achieve its objective of providing shelter for citizens in the country.
He encouraged nurses and midwives to join the union to be able to enjoy the good policies already being implemented in addition to those yet to be rolled out.
The Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Damien Punguyire, commended the leaders of the union for the initiative and said it would help the members to acquire affordable lands at locations of their choice and at flexible payment rates.
He encouraged the members of the union to take advantage of the land and housing scheme to invest in their retirement at the right time in order not to be stranded after retirement.
FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK, WA
