A presidential staffer, Samuel George Nettey has questioned the wisdom in doctors’ refusal to call off their more than two weeks strike action and return to the negotiation table.
Members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) have embarked on a strike to demand improvement and codification of their conditions of service.
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Talks between government and the striking doctors have stalled on several occasions. While the doctors say government has not been negotiating with them in good faith, government has said it cannot negotiate under duress.
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Speaking on Asempa FM’s on Tuesday, Sam George who once called on government to go beyond freezing the salaries of striking doctors and eject them from their bungalows questioned the intelligence of doctors to have accepted employment without conditions of service.
“The posture of doctors is improper. They are not better than any government worker… You accepted an employment without conditions of service. If they claim they are striking for the conditions to be in the 2016 budget, why should people die in 2015 for that? Show me the wisdom and intelligence in that. You are so intelligent that you accepted an employment without a condition of service,” he fumed.
Meanwhile, government has directed the management of all public health institutions to ensure that they are fully functional on Wednesday, August 19.
The directives were given by the Minister of Health Alex Segbefia at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday.
He directed that: “Heads of facilities should ensure that their facilities resume the provision of full range of health services by Wednesday, 19th August, 2015. Effective Thursday, 20th August, 2015 all members of GMA who have not reported and assumed full duty shall be considered as being on strike and in clear breach of the Labour Act. Heads of facilities are also requested to monitor and provide weekly updates on which health workers are at post to my office.”