By Wilson Tay
We can say with certainty that our medical doctors receive the most preferential treatment among all health workers and indeed among a host of other professionals in this country in terms of remuneration and status recognition. It can also be said with complete conviction that medical doctors in the public sector hold the highest record of industrial actions than any other group of professionals in that sector. Though it is unbelievable that the most recalcitrant could be the most rewarded, this irony describes the situation in this country where our medical doctors are in constant rebellious mood and yet they are the recipients of the most preferential treatment among all other public workers. Sheltered under the wings of a malicious fraternity named Ghana Medical Association (GMA), our medical doctors say they do not have conditions of service and have laid down their tools in pursuance of a progressive action plan to procure one, the non-realisation of which would engender a mass resignation from their ranks. Their declaration that they do not have conditions of service whilst enjoying a collection of luxuries; and to the extent that they have backed it with strike action has set some of us wondering whether our learned medical doctors do understand what conditions of service really mean.
The medical tool next to the Ghanaian doctor’s stethoscope is strike action and the reason why this tool is so powerful in the procurement of forced public sympathy and the whipping of government to full submission is obvious. In every case of industrial action, they succeeded in getting what they wanted from the nation’s coffers at the detriment of other public service workers and taxpayers. At the back of their triumphs which they often win on tears of mourners, they overlook and soon forget the venom they leave in the veins of our countrymen and women. It has thus become a constant routine for medical doctors to embark on industrial action anytime they are agitated by their thirst for supremacy and the desire to open up their presumed superiority gap over other professionals in this country. One thought that activates their rapacious guts is the feeling that some other sections of public workers have begun to enjoy salaries and incentives that are in close resemblance to the preserves of medical doctors. Therefore, their demands are in most cases not triggered by how low their remunerations appear to them but how close the remunerations of other professionals are in relation to theirs.
The current industrial action by the doctors is purported to back their demands for conditions of service which they claim have been totally absent from their career. Conditions of service are regulations issued by employers that set out the rights and obligations of employees. It may state such elements of work such as; rate of pay, frequency of pay, leave entitlements, work duration, dress code, and punctuality. It may also contain such other issues as entitlements for medical care, car, and housing, and the provisions for retirement. The conditions of service may be spelt out in appointment letters or issued separately and that needs to be accepted before an employee accepts a job. The current position of our medical doctors reveals that for their service to mankind and Ghana, they have accepted and continue to accept public sector employment without any conditions of service. It is very pathetic that our highly learned medical doctors and dentists in our health facilities are in receipt of salaries, take their leave entitlements, pursue further studies under government sponsorship, benefit in the allocation of cars, fuel, and bungalows, proceed on retirement with pension pay, and yet they claim they do not have conditions of service. In effect, our medical doctors enjoy all the privileges at the work place but that never merit their description and understanding of conditions of service.
Emoluments and other components of conditions of service vary from one workplace to the other and therefore it is not expected that conditions of service would be the same for the entire spectrum of medical doctors in the public sector of this country. This is because all doctors across the country are not subjected to the same working conditions. However, if that becomes the practice, then it is for the purpose of convenience and simplicity of administration. What is difficult to comprehend however is how the executives of the GMA succeeded in leading our learned medical doctors and dentists on the current path of ruthlessness and absurdity without realisation from both sides that the GMA is not a labour union but rather a body that seeks among others to regulate activities of its members in the medical profession. How safe are we in this country if the executives of the umbrella which is sheltering and regulating our medical profession would remain so refreshingly innocent in its deliberations and actions?
Now, a recap of what our medical doctors who are continually empowered by hegemony in their exercise of medical control are demanding in exchange of the lives of Ghanaians:
Basic Salary - 100%(by default)
Accommodation Allowance - 40% of Basic Salary
On Call Duty Facilitation Allowance - 20% of Basic Salary
Clothing Allowance - 30% of Basic Salary
Book Allowance - 30% of Basic Salary
Utility Allowance - 20% of Basic Salary
Professional Allowance - 50% of Basic Salary
Special Risk Allowance - 25% of Basic Salary
Vehicle Maintenance Allowance - 20% of Basic Salary
Adding the percentages up, our learned friends in medicine and dentistry are demanding that they are given 335% of their basic consolidated salary as their emolument for each month of the year. As a natural consequence, the 335% becomes the amplification factor for any incremental value of the basic salary. Aside those voracious quotes, the most privileged and omni-deserving professionals in medicine are also making the following humble demands on their blossoming half of our lame economy:
Fuel Allowance between 80 to 100 gallons (360 to 450 litres) per month.
One official vehicle on attaining the rank of Principal Medical Officer (PMO).
Long Service Award after 15 years of work, calculated as: last gross salary x 180 months.
Overtime Duty Allowance of minimum 200 hrs per month over the current 40 hrs per week.
Fully sponsored overseas medical care for a doctor and one family member or caretaker.
Fully sponsored Post-Graduate Medical Education.
Fully sponsored Continuous Professional Development (CPD).
Fully sponsored premiums on Malpractice Insurance cover.
2 months’ notice on the part of a doctor who intends to resign.
Outstanding issues on ‘reduced pension’ and ‘conversion difference’ to be addressed.
At least we have never doubted the learned status, risks, and occupational difficulties of our medical doctors but it is also expected that whilst making demands for an unprecedented mammoth-sized conditions of service, they would have also paid a little respect to the needs of other workers in our ailing economy. This negligence makes some of us ask whether aside the study of medicine and dentistry, our doctors could also be acknowledged with an iota of knowledge in economics and philosophy.
Conditions of service also spells out punitive measures for lateness, absenteeism, and bad professional conduct on the part of the employee but these essential modules are inadvertently left out from our medical doctors’ edition of conditions of service. The seriousness of this negligence is deepened by the fact that the lack of implementation of the demanded conditions of service is going to generate mass life extermination resignations. How can we fully sponsor the premiums of this professional malpractice which can be equated to the neglect of clinical knives and scissors in the belly of patients?
Our own brothers and sisters are in the medical profession but it is sad that our own family members would recognise no bounds in their cravings for money and absolute comfort, even at the peril of our lives. Government can help Ghanaians by breaking down this inglorious hegemony being enjoyed by the GMA executive cohorts whose utterances stink. The long term solution to the fate being suffered by our modest country in the hands of this ‘medicine mafia group’ is to ignore them and invest in the mass-production of doctors who would also join in the search for jobs under the scorching sun like the other professionals do in this country. In countries such as India, China, Pakistan, Jordan, and Cuba, medical doctors are produced in large masses and so there is no air of dominion of the medical field over the professions. Should the ego-drenched professionals resign en mass, government can recruit doctors from other countries in the interim as a short term measure. It may not be won on silver platter but the problems involved would be better put up with than the atmosphere of terror our own brothers and sisters are visiting us with.
Wilson Tay is an environmentalist. Email: wiltayson@yahoo.com Cell: 0246 861423
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