Doctors and other medical professionals serving in most of 110 districts are said to be cash strapped due to delays in the payment of Additional Duty Hours Allowances (ADHA).
The allowances constitute a great part of the incomes of health professionals. But the Ghana Medical Association says in some regions, doctors have not been paid their allowances over the last 5 months.
The association discussed the impact of the delays at a National Council Meeting in Takoradi.
It was suggested at the meeting that besides facilitating brain drain the delayed payment could lead to a strike.
GMA President Prof. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi told Joy News that particularly doctors in the districts and polytechnics are being affected by the nationwide delays.
?Korle Bu, Kumasi, they are the teaching hospitals they income generation and therefore they are also bale to help with the ADHA, but in the districts where we are trying to send people have not had their ADHA since November? he said.
?Now what is making people angry is that the genesis of ADHA was supposed to be part of the salary of health personnel but we understood that it was not possible to do that for various reasons, so therefore it is paid along side the salary but separately and its more than the salary and therefore most people do their accounting and disbursement from the ADHA.? he said,
Prof Adu Ayamfi say doctors want their ADHA paid according to procedures already agreed with the Health Ministry.
?The arrangement we made in the past was that the ADHA can be paid in arrears on time because people had made their arrangements based on the ADHA because the salary is not that much. We will be having serious discussions with the Minister of Finance and Government about this?. he said.
