Gov't pharmacists to strike over market premium discrepancies

The Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) has served notice of a planned strike action over failure of the government to address discrepancies in their market premium payment.

“Within the health service, we are having discrepancies in our interim market payment even comparable to our colleague pharmacists in some public sector institutions.

"Pharmacists working in university hospitals are on a premium of 1.14 meanwhile the Fair Wages and salaries Commissions are putting pharmacists working in the Ghana health services at 0.58 and that is a huge discrepancy,” GHOSPA’s General Secretary, Emmanuel Owusu Wiafe, told Citi FM on Friday.

He continued: “We are very resolute and if things are not concluded for us where there is a clear instruction to the Ministry of Health and the Controller and Accountant General, we will not rescind on this strike.”

GHOSPA in 2015 declared a partial strike across the country over migrating them unto the Single Spine Salary Structure after four years of negotiation.

“The pharmacists have had a long haul, over four years talking about their single spine salary," Chairman of GHOSPA, Stephen told Pulse.com.gh then. "Their salaries even before they migrated were far higher than when than on the single spine. It reduced their pension and the general morale of the pharmacist was very low."