Hospitals are a no-go area, our strike is still on – GMA

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has stated that it will not call off its planned strike until it receives an official communication or press conference from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) confirming the abrogation of the sale of a 60% stake in four of its hotels.

According to GMA President, Dr. (Med) Frank Serebour, the hospitals will remain closed if SSNIT does not provide official confirmation of the halt in the hotel sale.

Speaking in an interview with Millicent Safo-Adu on Bresosem at Abusua FM, he emphasized that the SSNIT letter circulating is fake, as it does not have the SSNIT letterhead or signature.

He said, “We’ve also seen a SSNIT flyer circulating about their discontinuation of the sale, but that doesn’t have the SSNIT letterhead. We haven’t seen any letter written by SSNIT with a signature, so we haven’t officially received any communication to that effect.

“As for these flyers, anybody can create them. We believe the best thing to happen now is very simple – SSNIT should officially write or, if possible, hold a press conference and say they are discontinuing the sale of the hotels. Immediately they do that, our demands will be met.”

Dr. Serebour reiterated that the Organized Labour strike is still ongoing, as nothing meaningful has happened to call it off.

He disclosed, “I cannot tell you that we have called off the strike, it is still on.”

On the call for the dissolution of the SSNIT Board, he explained that if the SSNIT board is dissolved, it is unclear who will call off the sale.

He emphasized, “If the board is dissolved, who will call off the sale? I believe there are issues that we may have to pursue even after this, but as we speak, my position is to simply withdraw the sale. Once they withdraw the sale, we will come back to work.”

The GMA President justified the strike as necessary, given the impact on all Ghanaians, including the private sector that contributes to SSNIT. Dr. Serebour described the strike as unprecedented in its unanimous support from all labor unions.

He stated, “I’ve been involved with Labour activities for quite a long time and I have not seen this kind of unanimous decision where every single Labour Union is supporting it.

“Even within the Health Sector, Mortuary Workers Union, Laboratory Workers, Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, and Health Service workers have all issued their statements in solidarity with the mother body union, so it means the hospital is a no-go area.”

The GMA has stated that it will continue to provide emergency services on Monday, July 15th, but the outpatient departments will remain closed.

“We’ll work on Monday, but strictly on emergency situations and in-patient wards. However, for the outpatient (OPD) wards, it is definite that we are not working on Mondays and beyond,” he noted.

Background

The GMA and other organized labour had marked July 15 as the start date of industrial action after the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) gave approval to SSNIT to proceed with its controversial plan to offload its hotels.

Rock City Hotel had withdrawn its bid to buy the hotels. The hotel management said it did not appreciate the negative publicity it has attracted since the sale.

A statement from SSNIT issued just before midnight on Friday, July 12, indicated that SSNIT had halted its intended sale to Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong’s hotel.