Mahama directs FWSC, LC to address concerns of doctors

President John Mahama has directed the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the Labour Commission to urgently address concerns raised by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and other bodies in order to avert their impending strikes.

The leadership of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) on Sunday served notice that they will begin a nationwide strike Monday, adding, they will not accept any piecemeal solution to their grievances.

Addressing a National Thanks Giving Service at the Black Star Square in Accra Sunday, President Mahama said whilst government tackles the concerns of organised labour, the doctors must consider the interest of Ghanaians and call-off the strike.

According to the President, “the announcement by our medical doctors is particularly worrisome because of the everlasting and irreversible effect such action can have on the lives of our people. Lives once lost cannot be replaced even after the issues of the strike are resolved.”

“My understanding is that the matters affecting the doctors have been narrowed down to two key issues. I have directed the agencies involved in resolving these issues to treat them with the urgency they deserve,” he said.

President Mahama disclosed that, he has “received a proposal to organize a stakeholder round table in conjunction with Organised Labour to review our implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy and have a dispassionate discussion on the way forward.”