Health workers to begin work on Wednesday

Accra, June 19, GNA - Nurses and other allied health workers who embarked on a strike action about a week ago are to resume work on Wednesday, June 21, Mr. Akueteh Armah, General Secretary, Ghana Bio-Medical Scientists Association said on Monday.

"We are actually reporting to work today (Monday) but we want to use the day and tomorrow to set up our offices and put them in shape so we can start full work on Wednesday", Mr Armah told the GNA on Monday. The strike action involving nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, anaesthetists, administrators and other allied workers was in demand for equity in the salary structure of the entire health workers.

Mr Armah explained to the GNA during a visit to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to follow-up on the decision by the workers to resume work that the decision was the result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the government and the health workers on Friday, June 16. He said the leadership of the health workers would discuss the MOU at a meeting on Monday and later brief all members on Tuesday at the Nurses Hostel.

"Presently the confidence of our members in the government have wane down but since the terms of the MOU is favourable to us, we hope to convince them at tomorrow's meeting to accept the terms and raise their confidence back", Mr Armah indicated.

He said under the MOU, a reconstituted independent appellate body was to be set up to re-map an acceptable salary structure that would address all salary discrepancies and bring equity in the salaries taking into consideration, the job evaluation force.

Meanwhile, the situation at the various hospitals remains the same. Patients who visited the Tema General Hospital were asked to come on Wednesday or Thursday, Rosemary Gyamfi, one of them confirmed to the the OPDs being empty and chairs parked upside down.

A nurse in her mufti who spoke to the GNA on anonymity said they were asked to report to work on Monday "but when I came, there is no work going on and so I am going home. The Director of Nursing who directed us to come to work is even not here".