Government wastes money, say doctors

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says its members will not accept government’s claim it does not have money to pay doctors because government makes lots of unnecessary expenses.

President of the GMA, Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, told Adom News’ Kwadu Adu Kumi that that “we have been reading about government’s numerous unnecessary expenses in the newspapers so we will not accept any excuse that there is no money to pay doctors what we deserve".

He said government has used every opportunity for negotiation with the doctors to buy time but they have not paid attention to paying the arrears owed to doctors.

Dr. Opoku-Adusei said if government prioritises its spending judiciously, there would be enough money to pay the arrears owed to doctors and other state employees.

The GMA President noted that the Labour Law classifies doctors as special service personnel and, per the law, government is supposed to settle the salary issues of doctors within fourteen days but government has refused to do so since November 2011 when doctors started to complain about their condition of service.

He said all efforts to get their concerns addressed by the government have proved futile so “we will meet government in like manner if the only language they understand is strike action”.

Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Adusei also hit back at the Public Relations Officer for Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC), Earl Ankrah for describing their intended strike action as ridiculous.

He described Earl Ankrah as a novice and naïve about the issues at stake, saying that his comments are rather ridiculous because he is out to ignorantly defend the indefensible.

The GMA President told Adom News they are currently liaising with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure that all monies owed to the doctors are paid.

He also called on the National Labor Commission to go to court and enforce their earlier ruling, ordering the FWSC to pay doctors instead of engaging in and ‘war of words’ with doctors.