FINAL NOTICE: Doctors to embark on strike

• Posted on June 2, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has stated that it will embark on a strike action as scheduled if government fails to sign and negotiate conditions of service for its members by the end of June 2015.

The association in a statement issued after the third National Executive Council (NEC) meeting indicated that government has not taken any step to solve the issue of lack of conditions of service for its members, four months after serving its initial notice.

The GMA, however, added that barely a month to the deadline, government has started some “machinations to absolve itself from blame should the deadline not be met.

The statement, signed by Dr Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, GMA President said, “The National Executive Council (NEC) hereby affirms that the GMA stands by its 30^th June, 2015 deadline.”

Plan of Action

The association called on its members to look out for regular communication on the subject from the National and Divisional Secretariats and attend weekly divisional meetings beginning Friday June 5, 2015 for sensitisation and planning towards the deadline.

It further stated that the National Executive Council meeting of the GMA in the next couple of weeks will hold an executive meeting to assess any development.

“The general public and all stakeholders should take note of the fact that the GMA has been patient enough and therefore should hold government responsible for any disturbances in the industrial front after the deadline,” Dr Opoku-Adusei said.

The GMA had earlier in the communiqué of its 56^th annual general meetingon November 9, 2014 in Takoradi drew the attention of government to the fact that its members working with the Ministry of Health were without conditions of service.

A deadline of June 30, 2015 was given to government to ensure that doctors in the public sector have negotiated and signed conditions of service document.

The GMA in that communiqué indicated that if by the end of this deadline the conditions of service document is not secured, all the affected doctors would consider themselves unemployed.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri