Ghanaian doctors threaten strike over weak social gathering protocols

Ghanaian doctors are threatening to go on strike unless the government addresses their concerns about weak social gathering protocols amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The threat comes after the leadership of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) reiterated their call on the government to ban all such gatherings in order to contain the spread of the virus.

In a report published by the CNR, General Secretary of the Association, Dr. Justice Yankson said that if government fails to adhere to their advice and things get out of hand, they will put down their tools.

He stressed that already the health facilities are “on their knees”.

“The issue is very simple, and we can only advise, and we can only advocate. The worst-case scenario is that we put our tools down but that might not be the solution for this pandemic because we don’t control the public purse, we don’t control the executive power. So we keep advising government. Mind you, there are first-line government advisors, and we do our best to interact with them collectively as a group, but the ultimate sanctioning of a particular activity has to come from the president.”

“So inasmuch as that we’ve made the case, the best we can do is to continue to advocate that these social gatherings are banned and if the powers do not really act in that direction, the worst case is that we will also put down our tools because we are also tired”, Dr Yankson told Citi FM.

Meanwhile, the President will on Sunday, January 31, update Ghanaians on measures put in place by the government to fight the pandemic.

Ghana’s COVID-19 situation

Ghana’s active COVID-19 cases have reached alarming 4, 665 after 797 new cases were confirmed in less than a week, official figures disclose.

The country’s death toll hit 405 after 15 additional fatalities, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The total number of confirmed cases now stand at 65, 427 out of which a total of 60, 357 recoveries have been recorded.

According to the GHS, there are at least 125 severe cases and 44 critical one. No one is on a ventilator at the moment.

Regional breakdown of cases

Greater Accra Region – 38,111

Ashanti Region – 12,154

Western Region – 3,498

Eastern Region – 2,841

Central Region – 2,269

Volta Region – 944

Bono East Region – 814

Western North Region – 711

Northern Region – 672

Bono Region – 657

Upper East Region – 577

Ahafo Region – 545

Oti Region – 246

Upper West Region – 188

Savannah Region – 63

North East Region – 25