'Retract and apologise immediately' - Laboratory workers to Korle Bu doctors

The Medical Laboratory Workers Union has called for an immediate retraction and apology from the Korle Bu Doctors Association over remarks it describes as misleading and damaging to the reputation of laboratory professionals.

The demand follows allegations that some doctors made what the Union considers reckless comments about laboratory practitioners, triggering an escalating standoff at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

According to a report by citinewsroom.com, on May 4, 2026, the Union said such statements undermine the critical role of laboratory professionals in Ghana’s healthcare system and noted that a retraction would help restore public confidence.

In an interview on Citi Prime News, the Union’s General Secretary, Dr Cephas Akortor, condemned what he described as deliberate attempts to discredit laboratory professionals.

Korle Bu doctors withdraw all OPD services over laboratory dispute

He stressed that doctors are trained to diagnose and manage patients, not to conduct laboratory testing.

“When people want something and they don’t get it, they find unusual ways to achieve it. Some attempt to discredit laboratory professionals just to make us look bad. We all know that in this country, doctors are not trained to conduct testing; they are trained to attend to patients in consulting rooms,” he said.

Dr Akortor further described the comments attributed to the Korle Bu Doctors Association as “misleading and reckless,” insisting that an apology is necessary.

“I stand here as the General Secretary of the Medical Laboratory Workers Union to demand an immediate retraction of that statement and an apology to the entire Ghanaian population,” he added, as quoted by citinewsroom.com.

Meanwhile, doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have withdrawn all Out-Patient Department (OPD) services, leaving many patients stranded.

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The withdrawal of services is reportedly linked to a dispute between Laboratory Physicians and Medical Laboratory Scientists over operations at the facility’s Central Laboratory.

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