Junior doctors threaten to withdraw services

Junior doctors at Ghana’s biggest hospital, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have threatened to withdraw their services by the close of work on Thursday if their additional duty allowances for July and August are not paid by then. A statement signed by Dr Samuel Seidu, spokesman, said they took the decision at a meeting on Monday and communicated their intended action to the Minister of Health and the Chief Executive of the hospital.

The doctors said they decided to take the action because of the "lackadaisical approach that the Ministry of Health has taken towards the payment of our additional duty allowance."

"What initially began as a two-week so-called 'administrative' delay, turned into a month, then a month-and-a-half, two and now three. To date, allowance for the months of July, August and September have not been paid.

"We have on several occasions drawn our Ministry's attention to the financial difficulty and frustration these are causing us. We are at this point hard-pressed and feel compelled to react to this treatment."

Payment of additional duty allowance for doctors has run into several difficulties since its introduction.