Minister urged junior doctors to exercise restraint

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health on Monday urged the striking junior doctors of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to exercise restraint while government addressed their grievances.

He said the issue had to go through a process, which demanded a declaration of principle and time, thus, "the delay in the results". The Minister said this when he briefed the press after a lengthy meeting with the representatives of the striking doctors, the Board Chairman of the hospital and the administration.

Dr Afriyie commended the doctors for suspending their strike action while the Greater Accra branch of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) concluded negotiations with government.

He noted that it was not elegant to see doctors using strike actions as the only alternative to have their grievances addressed by government and expressed the hope that such issues would not arise again.

Dr Afriyie attributed the problem to the breakdown of communication between the Ministries of Health, Finance, the hospital's administration and the doctors but said; "with the good will on both sides issues would be resolved".

He noted that government had already started addressing some of their pressing needs and that the issue of cars had almost been solved. Over 400 cars are in for distribution and most of the beneficiaries would be junior doctors in the rural areas.

"I have directed that a junior doctor be put on the committee handling the vehicles to ensure that the doctors witness whatever goes on". The Minister mentioned the issues of accommodation at the hospital and the take off of the postgraduate school as some of the areas that would soon be solved to avert any confrontation.

He said though the doctors had given government up to 31 March as the deadline for resolving their grievances such information had not been communicated to him and, therefore, the ministry might not be able to meet the deadline.

Dr Ishmeal Sackey, Spokesman for the striking doctors, said they did not enjoy being on strike just to have their problems solved and called for more consultations and communication to solve the problem once and for all.

Junior doctors of the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital on February 10, embarked on a strike action for better conditions of service. Their action resulted in an influx of patients to other hospitals like the Police Hospital and La Polyclinic.