Lab technicians strike today

The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS) will withdraw its services across all public health centres in the country, effective today Monday, May 28, 2018.

The Association are among other things fighting for a review of their conditions of service as well as ensure their challenges are acknowledged by medical superintendents and directors.

The action today comes after embarking on a partial withdrawal of their services nationwide, last week .

In a statement, the Association said the action ensures that work-to-rule was deployed on humanitarian grounds and to also prevent the loss of lives due to prolonged emergency provision services.

“Ensuring that work-to-rule was deployed on humanitarian grounds with the hope that authorities will take us seriously and come to the table and allow them to give us concrete steps towards resolving our issues.

“Prolonging activities including the provision of emergency services before complete withdrawal to ensure no lives were lost unnecessarily while ensuring our issues are attended to. However, instead of the medical superintendents and directors (who are supposed to be team leaders of the health systems) to call on the appropriate authorities to attend to our concerns, some of them rather chose to intimidate some of our members to the extent of threatening their lives; of which some reports have been made to the police.

“In order to avoid further confrontations, all laboratory services are hereby withdrawn with effect from Monday, 28th may, 2018. These include blood banking, surveys, surveillance and monthly returns into DHIMS 2 among others.”