Junior doctors threaten to strike

Accra, Aug. 14, GNA - The Ministry of Health on Monday appealed to the junior doctors of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), who have threatened to lay down their tools to allow the Controller and Accountant-General's Department to address the current salary discrepancies.

A release signed by Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei, a Deputy Minister of Health, asked the junior doctors and the members of GMA to channel their grievances to the Independent Appellate Body, which was set up two weeks ago to investigate the problem.

The release said it would have been appropriate if laid down channels of addressing grievances were used rather than resorting to the media.

It noted that the Deputy Controller and Accountant General (Financial Management Service) has explained the reasons for the delay and discrepancies.

It described the threat of laying down their tools by 1700 hours on Monday as unfortunate when an independent body had been set up to review the new pay structure of the staff of the Health Sector in general. "Even though the GMA was duly invited to an inaugural ceremony of the Independent Appellate Body, it did not attend but the Health Workers Group was well represented," the release stated.

Junior doctors of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the members of the GMA over the weekend threatened to embark on a work-to-rule action if outstanding issues pertaining to their salaries and other conditions of service were not resolved by 1700 hours on Monday, August 14 2006. They said they would close from work at 1700 hours just as other Government workers, who worked for eight hours a day.