Govt urged to impress on Appellate Body to hasten process

Kumasi, Aug.9, GNA-The Health Workers Group in Ashanti has called on the government to impress on the Appellate Body formed this year to hasten the process of restructuring the pay structure within the health sector.

The pressure group said this would allay the fears that government was dragging its feet in resolving the crises concerning the new pay structure for health workers.

The group comprises all health workers excluding medical doctors and Dentists, The government, in consultation with the national council of the group agreed in July this year to resolve all outstanding matters arising from the new pay structure by September to bring about equity in the conditions of service of health workers.

In a release issued at the end of a general meeting held in Kumasi on Wednesday, the body said it still stood by the September deadline during which the distortions and inconsistencies between the pay of Doctors and other health worker would have been resolved.

The new structure they said should recognise the unique contributions of deputy Directors of Nursing Services, Deputy Directors of Pharmaceutical Services and other regional Directors whose conditions of services under the new structure were far below expectation. The group reiterated their call on the government, hospital boards, and other stakeholders to terminate the appointment of the five persons, who were involved in negotiating the new pay structure to the disadvantage of other health workers.

According to the group, "they proved beyond all reasonable doubts that they are not managers of all health workers but a chosen few, that their action had caused the loss of precious lives and unleashed untold hardships on innocent patients".

The group again stated that the action of the five people had also embarrassed the government, not to mention the colossal financial loss to the various health institutions.

The Health workers said government and the public should not blame them for the re-occurrence of another "painful and bitter" strike if their grievances were not immediately addressed.

They called on members to begin wearing red bands by the middle of September to the end of the month by which time if salaries do not reflect their demands they would embark on an indefinite strike action. Health workers at the meeting were wearing red bands as a sign of their readiness to embark on strike action to back their demands for improved conditions of service.