Ankaful psychiatric nurses to boycott meeting with Health Minister

Staff of Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital who are on a collision course with their director say they will boycott a scheduled meeting with the Health Minister today to attempt a resolution of the impasse at the Hospital.

The minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, is expected to meet with the staff who have since February 14 stayed away from work to press home their demand, but they have indicated they will not attend the meeting arguing they expect nothing favourable from it.

The staff have for the past months, been demanding the removal of the director of the facility, Dr Eugene Dordoye, who they have accused of mismanagement and gross disrespect to staff. They claim he has put them in emotional and psychological stress.

According to them, their fundamental human rights are being trampled upon every single day by the medical director who continuously disrespects nurses in the presences of patients and their relatives as well as student nurses.

Government in 2017 said it was unable to remove the director as was being demanded by the staff, stating doing so would set a bad precedent.

Dr. Dordoye, was however made to undertake some courses in interpersonal and human relation management which he is yet to finish but the staff insist that is not enough, and declined a request by the Mental Health Authority to resume work

The staff on February 14 announced their resolve to stay away from work on the basis that their mental and physical health is at risk due to the “illegal, oppressive, traumatic, degrading, abusive, embarrassing and general egocentric behaviour of the Hospital Director, Dr Eugene Dordoye”.

The ‘strike’ is currently affecting medical care at the facility, a situation that triggered the Ministry of Health to arrange a meeting with the staff Friday in Accra to bring a closure to the impasse.

But the Public Relations Officer for the nurses, Emmanuel Ofori, told TV3’s Adwoa Adobea-Owusu Friday morning that they will not honour the invitation to meet with officials of Ministry Health because it the meeting is being held in Accra.

“He [the PRO] believes it is not to approve their request but to negotiate with them again since this is not the first time they are being called to go to Accra,” our correspondent reported Friday morning.

Mr. Ofori said the staff rather want the Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority to go to Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital to observe what is happening there.