Doctors tell government to complete negotiations by October 31

Accra, July 21, GNA - The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has fixed October 31, 2003 as the deadline for government to complete negotiations on the poor remuneration and conditions of service of health professional in the country.

The Association also said until government addressed the issue of poor remuneration and conditions of service, the National Health Insurance Scheme would not work effectively.

The Association made these points at an extraordinary general meeting held at Sunyani to discuss the slow pace of the negotiations with government on the conditions of service for doctors and health professionals.

In a statement faxed to the GNA on Monday, the GMA said in spite its patience on the on-going negotiation of the issue, government had shown little commitment, remained evasive and continued to pay lip- service to the negotiations.

They asked government to carry out the negotiations based on the full content of the joint proposals submitted by the Health Professionals Group.

A statement signed by Dr Jacob Plange-Rhule, GMA President and Dr K. Opoku-Adusei, Assistant Secretary, said: "The GMA expresses gross dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Afriyie towards the on-going negotiations.

"The Association deplores his unsubstantiated pronouncements, his actions and inactions, which have been an impediment to the speedy conclusion of the current negotiations with government."

It said the issue of poor remuneration and conditions of service which were the major factors causing the high brain drain of health professionals from the country had not received adequate attention from government.

"Retention of health professional is paramount to solving Ghana's health care delivery crisis, since the mere presence of vehicles, new facilities and more equipment in themselves without staff will not achieve much," it said.