The NPP MP for Assin Central, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong, has said no government will be able to meet the astronomic demands of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) concerning its conditions of service which they have presented to the government.
Speaking during ‘Badwam’, a morning current affairs programme on ‘Adom TV’, the MP was emphatic that the demands of the GMA was unrealistic and thus cannot be met by any government, be it an NDC government or an NPP one.
Kennedy Agyapong’s comments come amidst a public outcry against the astronomical demands being made of the government by the GMA whose members are currently on strike and who have threatened to resign en bloc.
While many believe the doctors deserve a better conditions of service, they are outraged by how high their demands are, and at the fact that the doctors have decided to embark on a strike at a time government was still negotiating with them as well as the threat that they will resign en bloc.
Many see the strike and the threat of resignation as a bullying tactics by the doctors which also smack of blackmail. For the first time, in spite of the very important role doctors play in the lives of Ghanaians, many are calling on the government not to yield to their demands.
Meanwhile, some Medical Doctors have refused to obey the directives of the GMA. They thus go to work every day and attend to patients. A senior doctor in one of the regional hospitals in the country (name withheld) who is a known NPP sympathizer is said to have warned doctors working under him not to join the strike because they have a duty to attend to their patients.
Interestingly, yesterday, the NPP held a press conference at which it laid the blame of the strike at the doorstep of the government. Many see this claim as an attempt by the NPP to play to the gallery because the demands by the GMA is one which, as Kennedy Agyepong rightly said, cannot be met by any government.