Government to reach compromise with doctors by Friday

The Ministry of Health has said that it would be meeting with the executives of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) by Friday to reach a compromise over the renewal of their conditions of service.

Mr Elorm Ametepey, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Monday.

He said government and the labour union was still negotiating on the demands of the doctors and were hopeful that the issue would be resolved before the deadline given by the GMA.

Mr Emmanuel Earl Ankrah, the PRO of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), also in an interview with the GNA supported the stance of the Ministry.

This follows the Association’s threat to withdraw outpatient services in all public health institutions as the first line of action if the government fails to meet its request by November 18, 2019.

It said the strike would be extended to all emergency services from Monday, December 2 to 8, 2019 and finally to a total withdrawal of services from 9th, December 2019.

The Association said the conditions of service of its members working in the public sector expired on December 31, 2018, but all efforts to get the government to renew them has failed.

It said the GMA and government signed the conditions of service document for doctors and dentists working in the Ministry and its agencies, adding that the implementation date for that document was January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018.

It said government has been going back and forth with the Association over the renewal of the conditions of service, hence the intention to strike if the requirements are not met.